Amazon acquires Twitch

Amazon has reached a deal to acquire video-streaming service Twitch, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The site attributes the news to a person who has been briefed on the matter. The Information also reported on the deal being close to finalized, citing two different sources with the news.

Just over three months ago, Variety reported that Google had reached a deal with Twitch that would see it acquire the company for $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal says the Amazon deal is for more than $1 billion, and could be announced as early as today.

[UPDATE]: Twitch and Amazon have made the deal official, saying that the retailer will purchase Twitch for $970 million in cash, with an expected closing date later this year. Twitch shareholders have already approved the deal.

"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 Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. "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."

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said the deal would let Twitch do more for its community.

"We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently," Shear said. "This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world."