Microsoft in acquisition talks with Discord

According to insiders, Microsoft is in talks with Discord about a possible acquisition. Discord is a very popular platform among gamers and could boost Microsoft’s business in the gaming sector.

Discord not just for gamers

The Discord online service is very popular among gamers, it is used for chats and video conferences. In the process, the service has more than 140 million active users per month, making it one of the most successful and relevant platforms of its kind, which is primarily located in the gaming sector. Discord was developed by Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy and released in 2015. In the beginning, it was purely geared towards gamers, enabling text messaging, voice messaging, and video chats while playing games and afterwards. Well-known companies also run their own Discord communities, such as heise, ComputerBase and AMD. You can reach our Discord server here. The millions of active users thereby communicate with each other for hours every day via the service.

Sum of $10 billion under discussion

The first talks between the two companies are already underway. Nothing is yet in the bag with Discord, a takeover of the company would be the next big strike of Microsoft, after the takeover of ZeniMax. The targeted purchase price is probably somewhere around $10 billion. Microsoft is to be according to data of the Insider here however not the only prospective customer. Just by the Corona pandemic platforms such as Discord have increasingly gained in importance. Through the purchase, Microsoft could, for example, expand its own platform, Microsoft Teams, or further position the online service and focus only on gamers.

It is still unclear whether an acquisition will take place, and neither company is commenting on this at the moment. An IPO of Discord would also be possible. So for the time being, a lot remains unclear.