After months of rumours flying back and forth about Google buying Twitch, it seems everyone was wrong, as word broke this morning that Amazon have swooped in and snatched up the live streaming video platform.
Sure enough, the Amazon/Twitch deal was sealed this morning with Amazon confirming they paid a final price of $970M in cash. According to the company’s most recent quarterly report, it had around $5.06 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of the period. Amazon therefore will spend around 20 percent of its cash on the deal.
This news might come as a surprise to many. Especially since the deal was apparently sewn up with Google in the recent weeks, to the point that when Twitch made some controversial changes to their platform policies a few weeks back, many a commenter pinned the blame on Google’s influence.
So why would Amazon want the still-young media company? It’s simple: Twitch has a large, growing reach into the young male demographic and is king in a growing content industry.
You can read Twitch’s official confirmation of the Amazon acquisition is here:
Letter from the CEO
August 25, 2014Dear Twitch Community,
It’s almost unbelievable that slightly more than 3 years ago, Twitch didn’t exist. The moment we launched, we knew we had stumbled across something special. But what followed surprised us as much as anyone else, and the impact it’s had on both the community and us has been truly profound. Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance – these have made Twitch what it is today.
Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us. Together with you, we’ve found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans. We’ve created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We’ve brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start.
Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch.
I personally want to thank you, each and every member of the Twitch community, for what you’ve created. Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles. Thank you for bringing your very best to us and sharing it with the world. Thank you, from a group of gamers who never dreamed they’d get to help shape the face of the industry that we love so much. It’s dangerous to go alone.
On behalf of myself and everyone else at Twitch, thank you for coming with us.
Emmett Shear, CEO
