After much speculation, Twitch has been purchased. However, the buyer is not Google, as was speculated. Amazon.com, Inc. has purchased the streaming service. The company bought all outstanding shares for about $970 million USD.
And while you let that number soak in, let me remind you that Twitch has only existed for three years.
Twitch, as you may know, is a streaming service that revolves pretty much around gaming, whether it is streaming live Let’s Plays, eSports competitions, or even gaming conventions like E3 and Gamescom. It has become one of the fastest growing video services in the world, with at least one million users broadcast more than 15 billion minutes of content for 55 unique visitors just in July 2014 alone.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear thanked everyone that made this possible in his open letter on the matter.
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.
The deal still needs to go through, as they put it, “customary closing conditions.” The deal is expected to be completed before the year is out.
