Holy mother of buyouts! Variety is reporting that sources close to them have confirmed a deal that would see YouTube acquiring Twitch TV for $1 billion. The deal is reportedly an “all-cash offer” and an official announcement is said to be on its way pronto.
This would be the hugest acquisition in YouTube’s history since it’s 2006 acquisition by Google, which was for $1.65 billion. Variety’s sources also claim that YouTube is preparing for U.S. regulators to oppose the Twitch deal, given that it may seem like an anti-competitive, monopolistic move within the online-video industry.
Twitch TV has been growing rapidly since it first came on the scene in 2011, providing an easy and informal way for folks to broadcast their video game playthroughs and interact with their audience of onlookers. If this report bodes true, you have to wonder what that means for Twitch TV’s brother company Justin TV, and if the Google subsidiary plans on keeping Twitch TV as is or if they’ll go on to find a way to integrate the live-streaming site’s infrastructure into their proprietary platform. More on this as the details unravel.
[HT: Variety]
I think this is an interesting move for Twitch. If it does go down, I don’t want to see a big red play button on the Twitch player. I love Google and stuff but sometimes, they make these business decisions that make them look more evil than they are.
“if they’ll go on to find a way to integrate the live-streaming site’s infrastructure into their YouTube platform”
unfortunately youtube already supports live-stream, but you have to pay for that feature
Wait really? I was able to watch live streaming of a few channels, namely Let’s Get Doug With High.