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Amazon Buys Twitch for $970m Cash Confirmed

Mercedes

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It's official. Despite the rumours of Google looking to secure Twitch for themselves with it being all but confirmed from certain sources, and random Internet'ers acting like it was already done (and already blaming them for Twitch's recent problems), Amazon has swooped in and has bought Twitch out themselves. Seems like Google backed out somewhere along the line, rather than Amazon offering a better deal, as Amazon has bought Twitch out for less money than it was rumoured Google was going to, but that is just speculation based on recent rumours.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Twitch Interactive, Inc., the leading live video platform for gamers. In July, more than 55 million unique visitors viewed more than 15 billion minutes of content on Twitch produced by more than 1 million broadcasters, including individual gamers, pro players, publishers, developers, media outlets, conventions and stadium-filling esports organizations.

“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. “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.”

“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.”

Twitch launched in June 2011 to focus exclusively on live video for gamers. 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. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

GAF

Which is great news! Hopefully Amazon will let Twitch function as they always have done and give them a lot more resources to do so, which is all Twitch needs. The service blew up and they just didn't have the server capacity for it. Here's to (hopefully) a much improved Twitch!

How much Amazon will be integrated into Twitch will be interesting.

Here's a thank you by Twitch's CEO.

Emmett Shear said:
Dear 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

Twitch
 
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Terminus

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I don't see Amazon really integrating a whole lot with Twitch. Maybe we'll see a few more Amazon advertiseemnts, but there's not much else. Google, on the other hand, could have made it a lot worse cough Google + cough.

10/10 I approve.
 

Mercedes

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I don't see Amazon really integrating a whole lot with Twitch. Maybe we'll see a few more Amazon advertiseemnts, but there's not much else. Google, on the other hand, could have made it a lot worse cough Google + cough.

10/10 I approve.

Yeah; Google had good and bad points as a potential owner, I would have loved auto-VOD upload to Youtube being a thing and disliked the inevitable Google+ integration, but Amazon seems like a much safer bet; they'll likely, as Shear said they were going to, let Twitch function as it always has done but with the benefit of Amazon's resources. Seems like one of the best possible outcomes did indeed happen. :)
 

Ventus

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Amazon Buys Twitch Confirmed

Enough with this confirmed nonsense. I demand it be taken out of the title.
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Beyond that, this is a wonderful move. We have seen once again that Amazon is coming out on top. First with the Kindle, now with the Fire HD, and later still with Twitch. Google, watch out. You have a fierce compettiro on your hands. Further, Shear did a wonderful move with this: http://www.twitch.tv/p/thankyou

A major roosterslap into Google's face if you ask me. It was delivered excellently, and it certainly can be misconstrued (within good reason!) to be a direct attack at Google's ego. Especially the line

ecause they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster.

Thank you and God bless.
 

Emma

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What I want is this to improve copyright handling. Everyone caring to read this thread is aware of the false flagging that happened on Twitch. It is very common on YouTube. Things like fair use and protection of parody are ignored by the flagging bots. Usually the actual real people will understand that fair use applies and remove the flag, but that takes a while because they have to do it themselves and there are a lot to go through. More serious competition can encourage developing a better system that does not false flag so much.
 

Salem

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So now Google would have to complete rather than dominate.

EDIT: On a related note, I find it hilarious that we had two topics about who might buy Twitch in a rapid succession.
 
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Ventus

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well i have a question why did amazon buys twitch for 970 million dollars. is it really worth all of that money?
 

Ventus

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well what makes it worth all of that money because as far as i know its nothing but sever space and i can buy 16 gig of bytes for $15
 

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