Amazon Buying Twitch, Not Google

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Amazon has some reasonably good leadership from the top down. Their sales of products and merchandise have decreased since many states have gone to taxing Amazon sales, which was a big incentive for many E-shoppers. One report shows that for online Amazon purchases of $300+, sales fell by nearly 25%. I'm a contributor to that, having spent over $2k over the past year either at E-tailers who still do not charge sales tax in other states (NewEgg, B&H Photo, Raktuen, etc.) or at traditional brick & mortar stores depending on cost. You don't always get the best deal online even with no sales tax compared to B&M's (Micro Center and their CPU/Motherboard bundle deals are a classic example).

So it is good for them to have the forward vision and realize they need to diversify and expand. Many companies who were large and successful companies are in graveyards of history because their leadership was too arrogant and ignorant to accept changing market conditions and adapt. I mean that's business school 101 stuff right there that so many have failed to remember.
 
Amazon overall sales did not suffer as much as you give credit to US taxation regulation. Remember, US is only a part of the world. Amazon fails in Europe, due to their slow shipping and bad coverage. There is even no Amazon in Belgium and The Netherlands among others, so if you order from there - you pay extra shipping. I do not know how their leadership fares, but on the lower levels of the company, the service they provide is having a hard time to compete with other on-line retailers. I do sometimes use Amazon, but most of the times, it is because I can't find the item I need anywhere else.
 
Yeah I absolutely agree with Amazon's fail outside of America. They never invested in the supply chain and other support infrastructure to make it successful. With that said, everything needs to be kept into perspective. Amazon's foreign sales revenue to domestic sales ratio was $30 billion to $45 billion in 2013. Domestic US sales at Amazon still account for 60% of their entire sales, so a 25% hit on their big ticket items priced at $300+ will without question be noticeable to their bottom line.
 
I'm a big fan of Amazon & their e-retail experience. However Amazon has disappointed me for a few years now. Their streaming media service began well but now is just okay (e.g. inability to download HD movies to non-Kindle devices, no Amazon Instant Video app for Android, etc.). Their decision to fork Android to create their custom mobile experience doesn't seem wise (why not augment the Android experience via apps & therefore still be able to tap into the full Android user base?). And their latest step into the mobile arena via the Fire phone hasn't helped their case. So now they're buying a new service? Let's hope that portion of the company sees better growth & development than the aforementioned areas.
 
@10tacle,

What you are saying is completely correct. But if Amazon did provide more up-to-par service in Europe, the revenue would rise to a number higher than the US sales.
 
You might want to have a look:

Amazon to acquire twitch, giving a competition to its fellow rival Google
http://geekthem.com/amazon-acquires-twitch-online-streaming-gaming-site/
 
Amazon overall sales did not suffer as much as you give credit to US taxation regulation. Remember, US is only a part of the world. Amazon fails in Europe, due to their slow shipping and bad coverage. There is even no Amazon in Belgium and The Netherlands among others, so if you order from there - you pay extra shipping. I do not know how their leadership fares, but on the lower levels of the company, the service they provide is having a hard time to compete with other on-line retailers. I do sometimes use Amazon, but most of the times, it is because I can't find the item I need anywhere else.
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@10tacle @Shneiky

What are you guys saying!?!!? Amazon is HUGE in Europe! They have 8 gigantic fulfillment centers in the UK alone, and another 12 in France and Germany.

As for Netherlands and Belgium not being covered, that's total rubbish. I'm studying in Maastricht right now, and we get free 3-day shipping on all Amazon fulfilled orders above 20 euro from the German site. Same for Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg. There's even a distribution center in Amsterdam... And up until 4 months ago, It was free shipping for orders from the UK as well...

Just saying... know your stuff before you comment
 
Amazon does not have .nl and .be. And if you get something from the .de in 3 days - that is good. I live in NL and it usually takes a week from the UK or the French Amazon (my girl is French so she orders from there, where as I use English) and not to mention the cost for sending is twice or even three times higher. If we specifically talk hardware - I can order something today at noon and have it tomorrow morning at my door delivered for 2.95 EUR. Sounds way better than 15 pounds. The shortest Amazon delivery I ever had in NL was 4 days.

And PS - Amazon is "HUGE" mostly in UK. 4 billion of the total Amazon revenue for 2013 is from UK alone.
 
@Shneiky

True there's no .nl, but .de is just across the border..

I ordered a room full of gear when I moved to NL for Uni (3 monitors, full tower computer hardware, speakers, amps, lights, disco ball, fog machine, printer, laser show, induction cook tops, kitchen items, about half a km of various cabling, bedding items - pretty much everything other than IKEA furniture) from Amazon.de and everything came with free shipping. Sunday orders were delivered usually by Wed or Thurs.... and prices are the best I could find... NL seems pretty well covered to me :\

Anyway back on topic; There's a great livestream of an all-episode Half Life marathon right now by @dannyodwwyer from Gamespot. Gotta love twitch, hope it stays this way. But I feel much better about amazon buying them than Google or FB.
 
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. The company has had some truly bright spots, and great potential. Unfortunately I have been less than impressed with the execution of most of their online services. Mainly around the software side and how it deals with the user experience. They always seem clunky, not terrible, just a step or two slower than the rest. Well see.
 
Amazon overall sales did not suffer as much as you give credit to US taxation regulation. Remember, US is only a part of the world. Amazon fails in Europe, due to their slow shipping and bad coverage. There is even no Amazon in Belgium and The Netherlands among others, so if you order from there - you pay extra shipping. I do not know how their leadership fares, but on the lower levels of the company, the service they provide is having a hard time to compete with other on-line retailers. I do sometimes use Amazon, but most of the times, it is because I can't find the item I need anywhere else.
Click to expand...

@10tacle @Shneiky

What are you guys saying!?!!? Amazon is HUGE in Europe! They have 8 gigantic fulfillment centers in the UK alone, and another 12 in France and Germany.

As for Netherlands and Belgium not being covered, that's total rubbish. I'm studying in Maastricht right now, and we get free 3-day shipping on all Amazon fulfilled orders above 20 euro from the German site. Same for Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg. There's even a distribution center in Amsterdam... And up until 4 months ago, It was free shipping for orders from the UK as well...

Just saying... know your stuff before you comment
Click to expand...

More often than nought you cant send items from UK to other places in EU. EX. the kindle is only available to UK, if you try buy it in the UK amazone.

The service outside the respektive country's where they have set up shops, is really horrible.
 
I think this is a great move for both companies. With Google, Twitch would have just been another expendable platform. But Amazon sees the real potential behind twitch as an amazing means to make money which they will certainly invest in. I would welcome the ads to products as it should quiet the copyright nazis and strengthen the game development community. I think this is a win for everyone as it now provides a major competitor to youtube for the first time.
 
I think it would have made more sense to go with Microsoft. If I am watching twitch on my phone or computer or xbox...am I more likely to wait for it to be delivered in a week from Amazon or am I more likely to take 10 seconds and press the buy button on my xbox and in smartglass?
 
There seems to be a big misunderstanding in the comments about what a monopoly is.A monopoly is:
the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.
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Google does not have a monopoly. In fact, no where close. Being the best company, with the best products, with the best prices, does not mean you have a monopoly. It means you are a successful business. The government has done a fantastic job in educating the American people to be fearful of great companies.
 
Since I am the only one who mentioned anything close to monopoly, I will answer. First and most important - I am not american. And yes, Google does have a monopoly in several fields. In Europe we use the word "monopoly" when someone has such a lead over any competition, that the competition is irrelevant. Is there any other free e-mail service that is even remotely comparable to gmail? No, yahoo does not come even close. Is there any other open mobile OS except Android that is relevant? Not really. (iOS is not open, it is only for i devices). Google ads? Facebook? Those are services that are so big, that it does not matter if there is or there is not competition. Hence - monopoly. Monopoly is used not only when someone has 100% of everything.
 
Thats good news. The less stuff Google and Facebook own - the better for us all. Monopoly never brings anything good.
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Amazon fits into the same monolopy category. Basically large established companies will buy up all worthwhile small companies just because they can. If you don't sell out, they will magically conjure up 10x the capital and using your own idea beat you out of the market.
 
Amazon fits into the same monolopy category. Basically large established companies will buy up all worthwhile small companies just because they can. If you don't sell out, they will magically conjure up 10x the capital and using your own idea beat you out of the market.
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Twitch was already pretty big, i don't know if any of these big companys would have succeeded in competing without serious money lose.
In any case i'm skeptical about this. I've seen Google acquire other services and i'm not disappointed, i don't know how Amazon will fair. Or maybe it's just me feeling more comfortable with the "evil" i know. Time will tell!
 
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