Amazon to Acquire Twitch.tv in $1 Billion Deal

Many of us knew that this would happen eventually, and speculation had Google as the possible front-runner to acquire the popular live streaming service, Twitch.tv. After snapping up YouTube, Google could’ve had a huge monopoly on video sharing, but in a letter from Emmett Shear, the CEO of Twitch, it turns out that online mega retailer Amazon has been chosen.

In a letter posted on Twitch, Shear goes on to state that they “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.” The letter also states that most aspects will remain the same with regards to the office and staffing.

The Amazon press release has its CEO, Jeff Bezos saying that, “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.” Shear is quoted here as well as saying, ” This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world.”

I can’t argue with helping Twitch to grow, but just how much did Amazon have to fork out? How about $970 million US in cash? Not bad for a 3-year-old service that seemingly exploded overnight. The deal is expected to close sometime in the second half of 2014.

We’re curious to know what you think about the acquisition of Twitch.tv, so feel free to leave your comments below.