Amazon.com has acquired the remaining shares in European home entertainment subscription service Lovefilm, the company has announced.
Amazon already had a 42% share in Lovefilm, and now it acquired the rest for an undisclosed amount, with the rumored price being around £200 million ($312 million).
Lovefilm does both online DVD and game rentals and streaming movies and TV shows over the Internet. It operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, making it the biggest European service of its kind.
Amazon does not operate a similar service in Europe, meaning the acquisition is probably a defensive move against a possible international expansion by U.S. online movie rental service Netflix.
The acquisition still needs to be approved by the European regulators, and is expected to close in Q1 2011.
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