According to a report yesterday, it was revealed that Amazon was the one who had acquired Twitch. Earlier reports and rumors had claimed that Google was the one looking to acquire the company, and in one report it was even reportedly “confirmed” that was the case and that all we had to do was wait for an official announcement.
So what gives? Why did Google not go ahead with their acquisition? Was $1 billion a little too dear for Google’s wallet? Given Google’s resources it hardly seems the case but according to a report from Forbes, it seems that antitrust issues was the reason behind Google’s reluctance to officially seal the deal with Twitch.
Forbes’ sources revealed that because Google already owns YouTube that an acquisition similar to YouTube could be the company square in the sights of antitrust regulators, which in turn could lead to either a lot of obstacles and hurdles that they’d have to work through, not to mention potentially wasted time and money in the form of a breakup fee.
Apparently Google and Twitch could not arrive on an agreement regarding the size of the breakup fee should the deal fall through, which was another reason why the deal was not officially announced in the first place. Neither Google nor Twitch have commented on these revelations but what do you guys think? Would Google’s attempt to acquire Twitch have been a successful one?