There were rumours that Microsoft is interested in buying Discord for more than $10 Billion. However, Discord came forward and announced that they have declined Microsoft’s offer and instead decided to remain an independent company.
According to the Wall Street Journal (has paywall), there were multiple third parties, including Microsoft who wanted to have a piece of the popular multiple-channel chatting system. However, it seems that Discord wanted to provide IPO (Initial Public Offering) instead, effectively making the company go public, and that the acquisition is delayed “at a much later date”.
If ever Discord was purchased by Microsoft, then a similar fate to Skype might happen, and some features that were previously free might get paywalled. Microsoft’s recent acquisition is Bethesda Softworks, a video game developer known for Doom and the Wolfenstein series.
However, in Microsoft’s side, the acquisition of Discord meant that they have a larger presence in the social media space, as well as gaming, as Discord is aimed at gamers and was originally developed for gamers. In addition, Discord has more than 140 million monthly users last year as users stayed at home due to the pandemic, and has generated more than $130 million in revenue, more than double than what they have in 2019, which was $45 million in revenue.
Source: Wall Street Journal (paywalled)
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