Kick co-founder threatens streaming takeover with ‘eventual’ Twitch buyout

Amidst the latest round of reported layoffs at Twitch, one supposedly reducing the workforce by 35%, Kick’s co-founder has threatened an eventual conclusion to the platform wars: A buyout of the Amazon-backed brand.

Following on from hundreds of staff being let go in 2023, Twitch is now reportedly set for another round of layoffs. This time, Bloomberg has claimed roughly 500 employees will be made redundant in a matter of days, equating to around 35% of the entire company.

With hundreds of workers seemingly on their way out, region support being dropped altogether, and many fearing the worst, it’s a turbulent start to the new year to say the least.

Looking to pour salt in the wound, however, rival platform Kick, a competitor that only blossomed in 2023, has chimed into the conversation. Co-founder Bijan Tehrani has implied it’s only a matter of time until they outright purchase Twitch.

Pondering the future of the streaming space in light of the Twitch layoff reports, influencer Jake Lucky questioned what might happen if the platform “implodes.” It was from this premise Kick’s co-founder took the opportunity to dogpile.

“Kick will eventually buy Twitch,” Tehrani said bluntly in response to the hypothetical.

Certainly no shortage of confidence, he then followed up on his own X (previously Twitter) account to highlight various job opportunities at Kick.

Obviously, it’s worth taking this bold statement with a grain of salt for now. Kick is still a fledgling platform not even a year old, while Twitch has been in the spotlight for well over a decade, with many years prior as Justin.tv.

Twitch is yet to address the reported layoffs, and impacted employees are seemingly yet to be handed their notice, Bloomberg suggests it’s only a matter of days until the drastic company reduction.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to speed with all the latest developments here as the situation unfolds.