Microsoft is in talks to acquire popular video-game chat community service Discord for more than $10 billion.
Discord has been looking for potential buyers for quite some time. It reached software giant Microsoft for the acquisition. Both Venturebeat and Bloomberg [paywall] reported that the deal could be worth $10 billion. Alternatively, the company could go public.
Venturebeat also reported that the company is in final negotiations about the sale with a company. Spokespersons from Discord and Microsoft didn’t comment on the report yet.
Discord was valued at around $7 billion last year in December. Even if the company has such a high valuation, it has yet to make any profit. Discord offers desktop, app, and web-based chat platforms used by mainly video game fans. The service is free to use but offers some extra features at $10/month. During the lockdown, it also saw a rise in usage and user base.
Microsoft has also been also actively looking to acquire companies. It was interested in short video app TikTok’s U.S. assets in September last year and also held talks to acquire Pinterest.
Discord could add a good value to Microsoft because it is already a big name in gaming segment. Now when the deal is in the news, the Discord could get more bids. If this happens, the acquisition deal could be even bigger.
Source: Reuters | Venturebeat
