Amazon's Twitch acquisition is about beating Google and Apple

Amazon makes a ton of money selling books, diapers, and kitty litter, but it just spent a billion dollars to help build a business that will make a ton of money selling games, media, and advertisements in the future.

The world’s largest online retailer might not seem like the ideal buyer for a site that is all about hardcore gamers livestreaming video of their games to the Web, but this didn’t stop Amazon chief executive officer Jeff Bezos from signing the $970 million deal. While it’s easy to associate Amazon with free shipping on orders of goods that cost $35 or more, the conglomerate is also building up a media business, and its executives have clearly made a bet that gaming will help them deliver on that in the future. At the same time, Twitch is a site that can also bolster Amazon’s traditional shopping business as well.