arms dealer

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arms dealer

Wikipedia

arms dealer (plural arms dealers)

1. A person involved in the distribution and sale of weapons, especially when it also involves smuggling.
2. (by extension) A media company that licenses its works to various other companies rather than distributing them on its own.
   • 2019 March 12, Elaine Low, “Inside Mike Hopkins’ Fiercely Independent Strategy for Sony Pictures Television”, in Variety‎:

     There’s “tremendous upside,” he says, for an unaffiliated studio, as Disney and others rein in content production in-house. “That’s going to create real opportunities for companies like Sony and Paramount and others to be an arms dealer of content to anyone in the world.”

   • 2019 November 25, Lesley Goldberg, Georg Szalai, Paul Bond, “Viacom’s Streaming TV “Arms Dealer” Strategy Paying Off (For Now)”, in The Hollywood Reporter‎:

     Hence, Viacom’s so-called “arms dealer” strategy, which paid off when it sold domestic rights to Comedy Central’s South Park to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max on Oct. 29 in a deal worth up to $500 million.

   • 2021 May 19, Matt Donnelly, “Sony Pictures Gained Ground in Streaming Wars With Historic Licensing Deals at Netflix and Disney”, in Variety‎:

     Tom Rothman, Sony Pictures motion picture group chairman, has said many times, both on the record and in the private confines of Louis B. Mayer’s old office on the Sony lot, that he is an arms dealer in the arms race.

   • 2024 July 8, Anthony D'Alessandro, “Sony’s Tom Rothman On Skydance-Paramount Deal, Calls David Ellison “A Very Capable Executive” – ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ Premiere”, in Deadline‎:

     Unlike Paramount which has been saddled with debt from launching streaming service Paramount+, Sony remains an arms dealer, and financially nimble studio.

• armsmaker

• arms race

• merchant of death
• warmonger

• “arms dealer”, in Collins English Dictionary.