Original Skype users may have a horrible taste of deja vu today, as there are reports that Microsoft is looking into buying the social platform, Discord. The deal could be worth as much as $10 billion, with other parties reportedly interested in Discord as well. Adding to this rumor pile is the news that Discord recently hired its first finance officer, suggesting that it could be getting its books in order for a sale.
Or an IPO. Either or.
Discord has been around in one form or another for the best part of a decade, and has grown to host more than 150 million active users — expanding enormously along with many other social platforms in 2020 while everyone was locked at home with little else to do but chat and play games. Discord is today integrated with all sorts of platforms, including Xbox Live, and has entered talks with Amazon and Epic Games in the past, for a potential buyout. Microsoft is the latest to take a swing at it though, with as much as $10 billion as the asking price.
It's not yet clear how far along any potential negotiations are, or what other parties are interested, but Discord's reach would make it a viable target for all sorts of companies, gaming and non. It's allegedly not a profitable company though, so it would be interesting to see if any new owners pushed to make it so soon after acquiring it.
A console company like Microsoft would be a great fit for Discord, though, as leveraging its chat server system for Xbox would be a big upgrade over its default chat system.
