Amazon to buy gaming site Twitch for $970m - its largest cash deal ever

Amazon hopes to increase its video-streaming offerings by purchasing gaming site Twitch for nearly a billion dollars.

17:46 26 August 2014

Amazon, which is committed to growing its video offerings, plans to buy gaming site Twitch for $970million – the largest cash buy in the e-tailer’s history. The deal is expected to help Amazon establish an edge over Netflix.

In a statement, CEO Jeff Bezos said: "Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon. 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."

Meanwhile, Emmett Shear, one the professionals behind Twitch said: "Amazon and Twitch optimize 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."