亞馬遜收購遊戲直播網站Twitch
Amazon is paying close to $1bn for Twitch, a three-year-old site where tens of millions of regular visitors watch other people play video games.
亞馬遜(Amazon)斥資近10億美元，收購了一家名爲Twitch的網站。Twitch在3年前成立，訪問者可以在這個網站上實況觀看其他用戶玩視頻遊戲，經常訪問的用戶達到數千萬人。The $970m all-cash deal is Amazon’s biggest acquisition since buying online shoe retailer Zappos for $1.2bn in 2009.
這宗9.7億美元的交易是亞馬遜自2009年以12億美元收購在線鞋類零售商Zappos之後，規模最大的一次收購。Its bet on the fast-growing niche of live game streaming comes as Amazon is upping its investment in online original video content to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hulu.
遊戲實況直播是一個小衆市場，但增長迅速。亞馬遜進軍這一市場的同時，正打算加大對在線原創視頻內容的投資力度，以便和Netflix和Hulu等網站競爭。
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, said that Twitch and its 55m users had made broadcasting and watching gameplay into a “global phenomenon” that would help Amazon “build new services for the gaming community”.
亞馬遜首席執行官傑夫•貝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)表示，Twitch網站及其5500萬用戶已經把遊戲實況轉播及觀賞變成一種“全球現象”，這種現象將幫助亞馬遜“爲遊戲社區提供新的服務”。Google, whose YouTube site is also popular with gamers, was among the other companies circling Twitch but it failed to reach a deal, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
根據談判知情人士的說法，谷歌(Google)原本也在有意收購Twitch網站的公司之列，不過它未能與Twitch達成收購協議。目前，谷歌旗下的YouTube網站也很受遊戲者歡迎。In a post to his site, Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear said that Amazon “believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision” but would not be making radical changes.
Twitch首席執行官埃米特•希爾(Emmett Shear)在一份聲明中稱，亞馬遜“信任我們的社區，他們與我們有共同的價值觀和長期願景”，不過亞馬遜不會對Twitch做大的改動。“We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence,” he said, in an attempt to reassure users who might be nervous about the change in control.
爲安撫那些對控制權的變更感到不安的用戶，他表示：“我們差不多一切都和原來一樣：辦公室、品牌、以及最重要的獨立性。”Despite producing and commissioning new online video series and allowing authors to self-publish ebooks for its Kindle e-reader, the acquisition of a company dedicated to creating online content is something of a departure for Amazon, which is locked in a fight with book publisher Hachette over ebook pricing.
亞馬遜也自己製作或請人制作新的在線遊戲，並允許作者爲該公司的Kindle電子閱讀器自行出版電子書。不過，收購一家致力於創作在線遊戲的公司，還是有點偏離亞馬遜的業務軌道。最近，亞馬遜與圖書出版商阿歇特(Hachette)在電子書定價問題上發生了爭執。
