In the News

Cinema Takeover: Cineworld buys Regal

Geoff Riley

5th December 2017

Horizontal integration in the cinema industry as Cineworld buys Regal to establish the second biggest cinema operator globally. It is a sizeable bet given increasing competition from online streaming businesses such as Amazon and Netflix.

Many cinemas these days are diversifying out of purely screening films to the conference industry and arenas for people to watch (and perhaps participate) in e-sports.

The UK cinema industry is an oligopoly. Cineworld, Odeon and Vue, the leading three chains, accounted for roughly 70 percent of the exhibitor market combined in 2016 (see the chart below).

Cineworld is buying Regal Entertainment for $3.6 billion https://t.co/K0F9dCiSxV pic.twitter.com/CZJdbxQN4G

— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) December 5, 2017

Cineworld set to create world's second-largest cinema group after $3.6bn Regal acquisition https://t.co/vo6VPyjZb9 pic.twitter.com/VxkcAfkjAU

— Screen International (@Screendaily) December 5, 2017

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