Amazon.Com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Bought Twitch In Order To Boost Its Content Media

One of the biggest online retailer companies, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), recently bought Twitch, a video game company that streams online. According to the sources, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) purchased Twitch for a total of $970 million in cash. The company expects its acquisition deal to be executed by the end of the year 2014.

Twitch was founded back in 2011. It is an online platform that allows gamers to connect and play live video games. The platform brings almost 55 million users per month to the company’s website.

The gaming company provides users with a global platform where they can connect and play games with or against each other with the help of chat and broadcast.

Last November, Twitch signed a partnership deal with Microsoft for the latter company’s Xbox One. Twitch also signed a deal with Sony last year whereby Twitch was used in the Sony’s PlayStation 4; both the deals increased the popularity of Twitch even more.

The company also distributes shows together with the online games. The shows that it broadcasts include programs of its media streaming partners including Destructoid, Joystiq, Machinima, and CBS’ GameSpot.

The acquisition deal that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has made with Twitch is the second biggest deal of the company; Amazon purchased Zappos.com Inc back in 2009 for a total of $1.19 billion.

Sources have it that the new deal with improve Amazon’s reach in the online media and content providing sectors of the industry, providing it with an advantage over the other live gaming companies. Moreover, Amazon can use the huge user base of Twitch to improve its advertising revenues and online sales.

The biggest giant in the e-commerce sector has been undertaking numerous initiatives lately, including financing the gaming and television contents, in order to improve its online gaming business. The company, for this purpose, has recently announced news seasons for its current shows. It has also sealed a deal with HBO to play some of its older programs.

The company introduced its Fire TV box in order to attract more and more gamers.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has a number of gaming studios, the main function of which is to design innovative and fun games. Recently, the company launched Living Classics and Air Patriots; games for Facebook and Google.

The company currently has a #4 Zacks rank on its stocks, with an overall consensus rating of ‘Sell’.

Coming to the stock prices of the company, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), on the last trading day, August 26, 2014, started its stocks at a price of $337 and closed at an increased price of $341.83, after hitting the highest figures of $344.36. The intraday range for the companies stocks was recorded to be from $334.55 to $344.36.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has a market capitalization of $154.01 billion with a P/E (price to earnings) ratio of 898.25. As far as the EPS (earnings per share) and beta of the company are concerned, the figures are reported to be at $0.38 and 2.18 respectively.