Earlier today VentureBeat was the first to report that Discord, the chat / communication platform that is popular with gamers and many other groups, is going through a sales process that could reach over $ 10 billion. The only question that remained was who could take it at this price, and now Bloomberg cites anonymous sources saying Microsoft is in the running to acquire the company.
The report doesn’t suggest a deal is made, or even nearing completion, and at least one source has claimed that Discord is more likely to go public than to sell. Still, Microsoft is an interesting prospect, because not only does it have the service formerly known as Xbox Live, it also competes with Slack with its Office and Microsoft Teams products. It’s been almost a decade since Microsoft bought Yammer to strengthen his corporate social networking efforts and about five years since he bought LinkedIn. Adding Discord’s services to the fold could be a major weapon against Slack or other options from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others.
