We Were Selling Twitch to Amazon for $970M But Then Something Crazy Happened...

@justinkan

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Why it worked

The video leverages high-stakes storytelling about a famous tech acquisition, using a relatable 'what if' scenario to maintain viewer curiosity throughout the narrative.

Summary

Justin Kan recounts a pivotal moment during the Twitch acquisition negotiations where an investor questioned the deal. Despite the hesitation, the board ultimately proceeded with the sale to Amazon.

Structure

1Introduction of the high-stakes deal
2The unexpected objection from an investor
3The awkward silence during the board call
4The investor's reasoning for holding out
5The board's decision to move forward

On-screen text

We Were Selling Twitch to Amazon for $970M But Then Something Crazy Happened... THE ENTIRE TWITCH BOARD IS ON A CONFERENCE CALL AND WE'RE DISCUSSING SOME OF THE MINOR DETAILS OF THE DEAL WHEN ONE I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD DO THIS DEAL HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT THIS DEAL WAS GOING TO MAKE EVERYONE AROUND THE TABLE STUPID RICH NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TO SAY AND THERE'S DEAD SILENCE THIRTY SECONDS GO BY FINALLY BREAKS IN WITH WHY NOT AND CHRIS SAYS WELL I THINK THE COMPANY'S GOING TO BE WORTH MORE AND THE OTHER INVESTOR SAYS HOW MUCH MORE AND CHRIS SAYS WELL I THINK IT COULD BE WORTH THREE FOUR BILLION I DON'T KNOW I JUST THINK IT'S GOING TO BE WORTH MORE THERE'S ANOTHER LONG SILENCE AND THEN LITERALLY WE JUST KEPT GOING LIKE CHRIS NEVER SAID ANYTHING EVERYONE ELSE JUST WANTED TO GET THIS DEAL DONE SO WE DECIDED AS A BOARD WE'RE GOING TO SELL TO AMAZON

Original caption

The craziest part was we continued like nothing happened #acquisition #sellingacompany #twitch #amazon

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Transcript

We were selling Twitch to Amazon for $970 million, but then something crazy happened. The entire Twitch board is on a conference call and we're discussing some of the minor details of the deal when one of our investors, Chris Paik, said, I don't think we should do this deal. Hold up, wait a minute, something ain't right. This deal was going to make everyone around the table stupid rich. No one knows what to say and there's dead silence. 30 seconds go by. One of our investors finally breaks in with, why not? And Chris says, well, I think the company's going to be worth more. And the other investor says, how much more? And Chris says, well, I think it could be worth three, four billion. I don't know. I just think it's going to be worth more and maybe we should keep going. There's another long silence and then literally we just kept going like Chris never said anything. Everyone else just wanted to get this deal done. So we decided as a board, we're going to sell to Amazon.