THE LION ROARS
MGM

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures.

The studio's official motto, "Ars Gratia Artis", is a Latin phrase meaning "Art for art's sake." It was chosen by Howard Dietz, the studio's chief publicist, in 1924. The studio's logo is a roaring lion surrounded by a circle inscribed with the studio's motto. The logo, which features "Leo the Lion," was created by Dietz in 1916 for Goldwyn Pictures and updated in 1924 for MGM's use. Dietz based the logo on his alma mater's mascot—the Columbia University lion. Originally silent, the sound of Leo the Lion's roar was added to films for the first time in August 1928. The studio's informal motto is "more stars than there are in heaven", a reference to the large number of A-list movie stars under contract to the company in the 1930s. This second motto was also coined by Deitz, and was probably first used in 1932. The METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER name was first used in 1924 and was officially granted trademark registration in 1961. It has since been renewed back in 2001.

From the end of the silent film era through World War II, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the most dominant motion picture studio in Hollywood. It responded slowly to the changing legal, economic, and demographic nature of the motion picture industry during the 1950s and 1960s, and although at times its films did well at the box office the studio lost significant amounts of money throughout the 1960s. Edgar Bronfman, Sr. purchased a controlling interest in MGM in 1966 (and was briefly chairman of the board in 1969), and in 1967 Time Inc. became the company's second-largest shareholder. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian purchased 40 percent of MGM from Bronfman and Time, Inc., slashed staff and production costs, forced the studio to produce low-budget fare, and then shut down production "permanently" in 1973. The studio continued to distribute films under its name, however, and resumed production of its own motion pictures in 1980.

MGM attempted to rebuild its production capacity in 1981 by purchasing United Artists (along with its lucrative James Bond film franchise). It also incurred significant amounts of debt in order to increase production. The studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. On August 5, 1986, Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System purchased MGM in a cash-stock deal for $1.5 billion. Turner immediately sold MGM's United Artists subsidiary back to Kerkorian. But unable to find financing for the rest of the deal, Turner sold MGM's film and distribution business back to Kerkorian just 74 days after the original purchase was made. The MGM lot and lab facilities were sold to Lorimar Television. Turner kept the pre-1986 library of MGM films, along with pre-1950 Warner Bros. and RKO Pictures films which MGM had previously purchased. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt. In 1989, Australian-based Qintex attempted to buy MGM from Kerkorian, but the deal collapsed. MGM was bought by Pathé Communications (led by Italian publishing magnate Giancarlo Parretti) in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. French banking conglomerate Credit Lyonnais, the studio's major creditor, then took control of MGM. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by Australia's Seven Network in 1996.

MGM purchased Metromedia's film subsidiaries (Orion Pictures, The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and the Motion Picture Corporation of America) for $573 million in 1997, and Kerkorian bought out Seven Network the following year. MGM used debt to acquire Polygram Filmed Entertainment's 1,300-title library from Seagram in 1999 for $250 million, and obtained the broadcast rights to more than 800 of its films previously licensed to Turner Broadcasting. MGM then purchased 20 percent of Cablevision Systems for $825 million in 2001. MGM attempted to take over Universal Studios in 2003 but failed, and was forced to sell several of its cable channel investments (taking a $75 million loss on the deal).

The debt load from these business deals negatively affected MGM's ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. After a three-way bidding war which involved Time Warner and General Electric, MGM was acquired on September 23, 2004, by a partnership led by Sony Corporation of America, Comcast, Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.), Providence Equity Partners, and other investors.

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A Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district.

The oldest of the continuously operating movie studios, and occupies a unique place in the history of filmmaking.
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the oldest of the continuously operating movie studios

In 1928, two titans of their age – David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and Joseph P. Kennedy, father of the future President and owner of the Film Booking Office of America (FBO), a movie distribution company – met at an oyster bar in Manhattan. By the time the meal was over, they’d agreed to combine RCA’s Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain with Kennedy’s company (as well as the fledgling Pathe Studios) to form Radio-Keith-Orpheum, or the RKO Corporation. By combining film production, distribution, and hundreds of theaters under one umbrella, they knew they had an innovative business model. Little did they know how innovative the company would be.

Over the following two decades, RKO would go on to produce classics in nearly every genre, from dramas: Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (starring Jimmy Stewart), comedies: Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby (starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn), horror films: the original King Kong (starring Fay Wray), thrillers: Hitchcock’s Notorious (starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman), and perhaps the most influential film of all-time, designated by AFI as Number One on their list of the 100 Greatest Movies, Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane. Simultaneously, RKO’s distribution arm worked with Walt Disney studios and others, bringing beloved classics like Fantasia, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Bambi to the big screen.

After a tumultuous period beginning with Howard Hughes’ purchase of the studio in 1948, RKO regained its bearings with its acquisition by Ted Hartley and Dina Merrill in 1989.