Author: by Alex Wawro, Christian Nutt

UPDATE: Twitch has confirmed that it has been acquired by Amazon for $970 million, in an all-cash deal. The acquisition has been approved by Twitch's shareholders, and is expected to close in the back half of this year. This afternoon, Twitch sent out a release confirming the deal; its CEO Emmet Shear also posted a "thank you" message on its official site. "We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence," Shear writes. "Like Twitch, we obsess over customers and like to think differently, and we look forward to learning from them and helping them move even faster to build new services for the gaming community," Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. Original Story: The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is in talks with Twitch to acquire the livestreaming platform for more than $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the deal. The Information has also published a similar report, based on information from two unnamed sources. This is notable because multiple media outlets reported earlier this year that Google was in talks to buy Twitch for $1 billion. The ardor around those talks has cooled, according to the Wall Street Journal's source. Earlier this month, Twitch shuttered its non-gaming sister site Justin.tv and significantly changed how it handles archived footage and copyright infringement detection, moves that would likely make it a more appealing target for acquisition.