Microsoft Is Reportedly 'in the Running' to Buy Discord for More Than $10 Billion Discord might go public instead of selling.
By R. Lawler •
This story originally appeared on Engadget
Earlier today VentureBeat was first to report that Discord, the chat/communications platform that's popular with gamers and many other groups, is going through a sales process that could fetch more than $10 billion. The only question left was who might snap it up at that price, and now Bloomberg cites anonymous sources saying that Microsoft is in the running to acquire the company.
Related: Discord Bans Reddit's WallStreetBets for Hate Speech as Scrutiny Intensifies
The report doesn't suggest that a deal is done, or even close to completion, and at least one source claimed Discord is more likely to go public than sell.
Still, Microsoft is an interesting prospect, as it not only has the service formerly known as Xbox Live, it also competes with Slack using its Office products and Microsoft Teams. It's been almost a decade since Microsoft bought Yammer to enhance its enterprise social networking efforts and five years or so since it bought LinkedIn. Adding Discord's services to the fold could provide a major weapon against Slack or other options from Google, Facebook and Amazon.
