Discord is exploring its options for a sale that could be worth more than $10 billion, VentureBeat has reported. Additional sources quoted by Bloomberg say that Microsoft is one of the companies involved in talks to acquire Discord–though it’s still possible that Discord will go public rather than agree to a sale to a larger company.
Sources quoted by VentureBeat claim that the potential sale comes due to interest expressed by multiple parties. One person claims that Discord is in final negotiations with one party, having signed an exclusive acquisition discussion. A Bloomberg source said that Discord reached out to Microsoft to gauge interest, with Xbox head Phil Spencer involved in talks with the gaming chat company.
Others familiar with the matter said that Epic Games and Amazon have also been involved in discussions to buy Discord in the past, though it’s unclear if negotiations with these companies are ongoing.
The interest in Discord comes after a big year for the chat company, when it rebranded from a heavily gaming-focused app to one that welcomed all communities that needed an online space to gather. At the end of 2020 Discord raised $140 million from investors, after getting a valuation of $7 billion.
Recent events in the games industry such as the GameStop stock rally and Roblox’s strong debut on the stock market have caught investors’ attention, meaning Discord may choose to go public instead of selling itself. Yet Discord has acknowledged that as of 2020 the company is still not profitable, meaning an IPO at this stage may be immature.
Discord has previously been through acquisition talks in 2018, with potential sales falling through due to Discord wanting to protect its internal values. Many prospective buyers wanted to change the platform in a major way such as adding advertising, something the company has been resistant to from the start. It’s possible this round of talks will end the same way, but only time will tell at this point.
