Amazon Acquires Twitch For $970 Million In Cash
Web-based retailer Amazon announced on Aug. 25 that it will be acquiring Twitch, a website where users can watch other people play video games. The move shows that Amazon’s chief executive officer, Jeff Bezos, is intent on transforming the company into more than just a website where people can shop.
Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month—from The International, to breaking the world record for Mario, to gaming conferences like E3,” said Bezos, who is also the founder of Amazon.com. “And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old. Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community.”
In July, more than 55 million unique visitors went on Twitch to watch videos produced by approximately 1 million broadcasters. Twitch is popular among both amateur and professional gamers alike; the website proves that people are no longer only interested in playing their favorite games—they’re interested in kicking back and watching others take the helm, too.
Amazon and Twitch optimize for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming,” said Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. “Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world.”
The deal between Twitch and Amazon is estimated to be worth $1.1 billion, including stock Amazon is paying to retain Twitch employees; it will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Twitch for $970 million in cash. The acquisition will close by the end of 2014.
