Kick Co-Founder Hints at Possible Twitch Buyout

In the context of the most recent round of reported Twitch layoffs, rival platform Kick’s co-founder, Bijan Tehrani, suggested a buyout might occur in the future, implying the date is only a matter of time. 

Twitch Saying Goodbye to Another 500 Employees

The US video live-streaming service with a focus on streaming live video games, esports competitions, music, IRL (in real life), and creative content is expected to presumably cut its workforce by 35% as it is allegedly getting ready to bid goodbye to some 500 staff members.

The news of the layoffs follows two other similar developments in 2023 when the platform that is backed by Amazon announced it had fired hundreds of employees, bringing the total to a massive 1,000 during a single year. 

The popular business in video games and the creator economy has been dominating the video game streaming universe for years now, triggering competitors Kick, Facebook, and YouTube to up their game and invest heavily in improvements and new features, eventually creating the so-called streaming war. 

“Kick Will Eventually Buy Twitch”

Now, Twitch’s dominance might be shaking and the overall future of the streaming space is currently being questioned in light of the supposed layoffs underway. 

Gaming and esports influencer Jake Lucky took it to X to question what might occur provided Twitch will eventually implode. Kick’s co-founder grabbed the opportunity to answer “Kick will eventually buy Twitch” and turn it into the market’s leading streaming service. 

Next, Tehrani followed up using his X account to advertise a variety of job opportunities at Kick. “We are hiring in all departments at Kick, especially in tech! Please drop us a line [email protected]”, he wrote.

While his statement is rather bold, it should also be taken with a grain of salt for the time being, since Kick is less than a year old while Twitch has been a constant presence in streamers’ and viewers’ lives for more than 10 years. 

Kick was launched at the start of 2023 by Melbourne-based crypto casino entrepreneur Tehrani, Australian entrepreneur and co-founder of the online casino Stake.com, Ed Craven, and American live streamer Trainwreckstv.

To ensure its success, the platform aimed to attract iconic streaming names like Amouranth and xQc. 

For the latter, Kick inked a two-year contract for roughly $70 million, with incentives that would push the grand total to a whopping $100 million.

Last August, Kick announced it would become Everton FC’s sleeve sponsor.