Report: YouTube set to acquire Twitch for $1 billion

UPDATE: Verge is reporting more information about this expected deal. Verge is further confirming that YouTube is in fact buying Twitch, but stating that Microsoft tried also buying them. Twitch ended up deciding on YouTube deal. The deal is still in the works between the two companies.

Microsoft and others have made serious approaches to Twitch, said the person, but YouTube was deemed the better fit. It’s unlikely that the gamer-friendly Twitch would have wanted any part of a deal that would tie the service to Xbox, as it’s embedded in Sony’s rival PlayStation console as well. A source familiar with the deal says that Twitch likely would have rejected a billion dollar offer from other companies, but was willing to accept it as part of a partnership with YouTube.

A new report from Variety is stating that Google’s YouTube is about to buy the most popular video game streaming website, Twitch, for over $1 billion dollars. Variety is reporting that a deal between the two companies is about to be announced. Twitch has become the most prominent video game streaming website over the last few years.

Twitch has become a popular place for gamers to stream all sorts of titles, including Call of Duty. Recently, however, Twitch has garnered competition from MLG launching their own MLG.tv service, which major pro players have now started streaming on.

This acquisition would be the biggest acquisition in YouTube’s history.

Google’s YouTube has reached a deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame-streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pac

The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.

Google and Twitch have declined to comment to Variety; we’ll update as we hear more.

SOURCE: Variety