Twitch founder Justin reveals if he regrets selling the streaming platform

Michael Gwilliam
Justin Kan Twitch logo

Twitch co-founder Justin Kan has revealed whether or not he regrets selling the extremely popular streaming platform to Amazon.

The 37-year-old took to TikTok on February 7 to answer an interesting question posed to him: If he ever regrets selling Twitch, given how much it’s worth today.

Kan’s ties to the site stem all the way back to 2007, when the platform was originally called Justin.tv before it morphed into Twitch.

According to Kan, when they sold the site in 2014 for $970 million, he “thought that was an insane amount.”

Justin.tv mascot logo
The Justin.TV mascot was a gorilla with a camcorder.

“But now, reportedly, Twitch is worth fifteen to twenty billion,” he added. “Proving that things can always be bigger than you think.”

Twitch has become one of the most popular streaming platforms on the internet, with as many as 15 million daily active users just one year ago. Chances are those numbers have grown since then. Nonetheless, Justin doesn’t seem to mind.

“A couple things to consider: One, it’s not clear that without the capital infusion from Amazon, Twitch would be anywhere near as successful as it is today,” he said, which is a very good point. Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world, and with all their resources, Twitch gets a major boost.

“And two, having the win from selling Twitch helped me realize that having more, more, more and more money in the bank is not necessarily going to make me any happier,” Kan added with a grin on his face.

This part is also interesting in that it’s a good lesson for anyone with a business, or anyone just looking to make money in life. There are some things that money can’t buy, and happiness may not be one of them.

“So no, I don’t regret selling, he concluded. “Everything is as it’s supposed to be.”

For anyone who was ever curious about Kan selling the platform, his answer should be more than enough to suffice that he has absolutely no regrets at all.

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam