From Amazon.com Press Release (August 25, 2014):
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 25, 2014– 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.
According to TechCrunch, Amazon acquired Twitch Interactive for $970 Millions in cash.
From Twitch CEO, Emmet Shear’s letter:
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.
Congratulations to Twitch on getting acquired.
Now, let’s get to the serious part of this news. Back in May, 2014 there were rumors of Google’s intent to buy Twitch. Remember that it is a rumor of an acquisition. On July 24, 2014, VentureBeat ran a story with headline: “Google’s $1B purchase of Twitch confirmed — joins YouTube for new video empire” – link to the Internet Archive version.
“Confirmed”
No other news site reported this, just VentureBeat. One would think that Google would leak this news to Kara Swisher than VentureBeat. I did not buy it at all.
Every time someone cited @VentureBeat, I rolled my eyes. That’s because Venture Beat is less reliable than Supermarket Tabloid.
For the next two weeks, many speculations abound. On August 6, 2014 I tweeted this:
Wonder why no one else is calling bullshit on @VentureBeat 2014-07-24 story about @Google’s $1 Billion purchase of @Twitch?
Confirmed???????
Comes August 25, 2014, it is apparent that VentureBeat is an example of bad journalism.
