What you need to know
- Microsoft is reportedly in talks to acquire Discord.
- Talks are in early stages at the moment.
- Discord is looking to sell for more than $10 billion.
Earlier today, news broke that Discord was looking to sell to a willing buyer for more than $10 billion. The report was light on details regarding which companies were interested, but now Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is in the running. The report claims that talks are still in early stages, so nothing is a done deal, but that Microsoft is definitely interested.
Discord is likely in talks with multiple companies about a possible deal, with reports suggesting a sale is still in its infancy stages meaning it could be a while before a deal is actually closed. There's no guaranteeing Microsoft would be the winning bid, but as our Senior Xbox Editor Jez Corden recently wrote, Microsoft can't let this one slip away, especially for its Xbox efforts.
Discord would be a valuable asset for Microsoft and Xbox. Discord is popular with PC gamers, with over 140 million active users. Assuming Microsoft did acquire Discord, it would likely treat the service like its LinkedIn or GitHub acquisitions, allowing Discord to continue operating on its own, but integrating Discord and Discord tech into other Microsoft products to enhance the Microsoft ecosystem as a whole.
For now, it's very early days and the deal could still go to a number of other companies, or Discord could ultimately decide to go public. But Microsoft could really use a consumer-facing chat platform that has actual users, unlike Microsoft Teams for Consumers or Skype which has seen usage decline significantly in recent years.
