The popular gaming chat program Discord is reportedly set to be purchased by Microsoft for a whopping $10 billion. The software and gaming giant Microsoft seems to want to upgrade its communication programs. Picking up Discord would be a big step in that direction. The problem is, Microsoft’s isn’t the only eye on the online chat platform.
Discord was launched back in 2015 as an instant messaging and voice chat platform designed to help communities communicate and create their own spaces. The servers are commonly used as spaces for communities to meet up and communicate via voice calls, video calls, text messaging, sharing screens, files and images. The chat platform has become widely popular over the past few years, with the active users per month hitting 100 million in June of 2020, from a total of 250 million registered users. Back in December of 2020, Discord was valued at $7 billion, $3 billion short of Microsoft’s current offer.
Bloomberg reported on the deal on Monday, following an earlier report from VentureBeat about how Discord had been receiving offers from multiple prospective buyers. There is no word as of yet that the deal has gone through or that the $10 billion from Microsoft is even the biggest bid in the running. A source close to Discord, who wishes to remain anonymous, has claimed that Discord is more likely to go public than sell.
While the deal is not cemented, $10 billion is nothing to brush aside. In the past few years, billion-dollar deals have become more common. Back in 2012, Walt Disney Studios purchased the rights to Star Wars for $2.2 billion in cash and $1.855 billion in stocks, earning that money back in just six years, and continuing to profit further from the franchise. The most recent high-profile billion-dollar deal also featured Microsoft, who purchased the Zenimax Media company that owned Bethesda and other gaming developer studios for $7.5 billion.
Microsoft has been buying companies for years, having scooped up social networking companies such as LinkedIn and Yammer to strengthen the company and expand the sphere of influence that Microsoft has over users’ everyday lives. These acquisitions are all in the tech giant’s best interests to keep up with direct competitors such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. The race to control the market has a billion-dollar entrance fee, one that companies such as these can easily afford. Microsoft even tried to buy Nintendo over 20 years ago.
Discord can already be used in Xbox products; users have long been able to tie their accounts to the platform and showcase their active Xbox accounts. Judging by how popular Discord is with gaming communities, it makes sense that Microsoft wants to claim the platform and take control of Discord and all of its 250 million users.
