Microsoft might be looking to buy Discord for a cool $10 billion

Your favorite gamer-centric chat software might have a new home soon, as Bloomberg reports that Discord is in talks with Microsoft for a potential buy-out worth over $10 billion. Lending more weight to the report is that Xbox chief Phil Spencer is said to be involved, making it more than just an exploratory set of talks.

Some additional reporting from VentureBeat has Discord in talks with multiple companies in recent months. One source has said that Discord has signed on for an “exclusive acquisition discussion with one party,” which would indicate the last stages before an eventual sale. Could that exclusive party be Microsoft? Bloomberg‘s sources would seem to think so.

Both Epic Games and Amazon have also been in talks with Discord, making the chat service a hot property. The question is, will Discord sell, or will they decide to go it alone, taking the company public. With Roblox posting a $42 billion valuation at their own IPO, could Discord get a higher valuation going public than a private sale?

It’s not the first time Discord has been in talks about a possible purchase, with multiple offers back in 2018. At the time, all of the possible buyers wanted to do something that Discord’s leadership felt was antithetical to their values, like including advertising. Will the same values hold true at a much higher valuation?

UPDATE 3/26/2021 9:22 AM ET: According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal as soon as next month, assuming the negotiations don’t fall apart.

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