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YouTube reportedly to acquire streaming site Twitch for $1B

Deal for video game streaming service is expected to be announced soon, sources tell Variety.

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Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Twitch

YouTube has agreed to acquire video game streaming service Twitch for more than $1 billion, sources tell Variety.

The all-cash deal is expected to be announced soon, unidentified sources told the entertainment news site. If completed, the acquisition would be the video-sharing site's largest deal since it was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006.

YouTube and Twitch representatives declined to comment on the report.

Launched in June 2011 by Justin.tv co-founders Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, the company's streaming video platform allows game players to upload and share live game play videos that can be streamed on Microsoft Xbox and PlayStation 4 game consoles. Initially available on PC, Twitch claims about 45 million visitors to its site each month.

YouTube, the Web's most popular video site, is expected to face scrutiny from federal regulators concerned that the combination of the two sites would create an anticompetitive climate in the online video market.

The San Francisco-based company closed a $20 million Series C funding round last September that was led by WestSummit Capital and Take-Two Interactive Software, bringing its total funding to $35 million.