According to a new report, Discord has also received offers from Amazon and Epic
Is Microsoft on track to deepen its grip on gaming? According to a new report, the cloud-software-hardware-office-windows-clip has offered no less than $ 10 billion for the communications platform used primarily by players in various computer games.
10 billion. Maybe more
According to a Bloomberg report, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, met with Discord chiefs and talked to them about a possible purchase for $ 10 billion and possibly more.
The news of a possible acquisition of Microsoft comes after previous reports that Discord is looking for a potential buyer. For example, VentureBeat reports that Discord has put itself on the shelf, and has been in contact with a number of technology giants, with the asking price tag being over $ 10 billion. According to Bloomberg, among those interested in the purchase were Amazon, which is known to own the streaming service for gamers Twitch; And gaming giant Epic, which develops, among other things, the Unreal engine and of course is behind the hit Fortnite.
Today, Discord uses about 140 million users, most of them gamers, who use its unique features such as video and audio calls and chat to communicate during games, for example. However, thanks to the global epidemic, new users have also come to it, using the platform for learning groups, classes and more, and Discord has adopted the new audiences and is trying to get as many users as possible among other audiences.
Fits like a Microsoft glove, but has a but
Microsoft’s name has been mentioned in recent months as a possible acquirer of Tiktok’s US operations, as well as the social network Pinterest. In this sense, Microsoft wants to reach established communities with a loyal user base – something it has not been able to do so organically, just like Google for example. Therefore, such an acquisition will allow it, just like in the acquisitions of GitHub (the developer community) and LinkedIn (on the career side) to acquire a ready-made community and invest mainly in cultivating and launching new features. Of course, such an acquisition, if and when it occurs, will fit in well with Microsoft’s Xbox division, one of the company’s most profitable activities.
However, even if in the end Microsoft will not be the buyer, it is clear that the founders and investors of Discord have decided to meet the money, whether by a sale or by an upcoming IPO. Just three months ago, Discord raised $ 100 million from investors at a value of $ 7 billion, so a close deal or IPO would be a handsome return on investment for the company’s investors, founders and employees. Among the investors in the company are the Greylock funds, Spark Capital, the Chinese giant Tencent and the Benchmark fund.
Yaniv Avital
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