Microsoft is reportedly holding talks to acquire Discord, a videogame chat platform, for more than $10 billion.
VentureBeat first reported that the San Francisco-based company was talking to potential buyers; Bloomberg followed up, adding that Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) is among the possible bidders. Both companies declined to comment for the Bloomberg story. A spokesman for Microsoft this morning said the company doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation. Discord could not immediately be reached.
The Bloomberg story said that one source thought Discord was more likely to go public than sell itself. Discord has raised $479.3 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase, including $100 million raised late last year at a $7 billion valuation. Investors include Index Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, IVP, and Spark Capital, among others.
Gamers use Discord’s free service to communicate by voice, video and text—and not just for games. “Whether you’re part of a school club, gaming group, worldwide art community, or just a handful of friends that want to spend time together, Discord makes it easy to talk every day and hang out more often,” the company says on its website.” Discord says it has more than 100 million monthly active users.
The potential acquisition of Discord comes amid growing interest in Clubhouse, a voice-only social network that has been seeing a surge in users.
Microsoft stock is up 1%, at $238.26, in recent trading. The S&P 500 is down 0.3%.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
