Amazon to acquire Twitch for $970 million
Amazon has agreed to acquire video game live streaming website Twitch Interactive for $970 million.
Founded in 2011, Twitch allows users to broadcast and watch other people play video games. The platform had over 55 million unique visitors in July with users viewing more than 15 billion minutes of content.
Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said: “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. And, amazingly, Twitch is only three years old.”
He added: “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.”
Prior to the announcement, it had been widely reported that Google was planning to buy Twitch but yesterday Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear said: “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 acquisition is one of Amazon’s biggest to date.
