PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Etail giant Amazon has entered into an agreement to acquire PC and video game live streaming website Twitch.
Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by Twitch’s shareholders, Amazon will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Twitch for approximately $970 million in cash, as adjusted for the assumption of options and other items.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2014.
Twitch originally launched back in June 2011 to focus exclusively on live video for gamers, and has grown massively since then.
In July, more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than one million broadcasters, including individual gamers, pro players, publishers, developers, media outlets, conventions and esports organisations.
"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," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear added: "Amazon and Twitch optimise for our customers first and are both believers in the future of gaming.
"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."
Twitch previously told PCR that PC brands should be live streaming. Read our full interview with Twitch from earlier this year here.
