All About Interwebz: Microsoft is in talks to acquire gaming chat platform Discord for $10 billion

Discord has made its name in the gaming space as the chatting platform for gamers and teams. And now apparently Discord Inc has approached different companies looking to get acquired. And it seems like Microsoft might be the interested party that may be ready to offer a sum north of $10 billion.

According to multiple reports, Discord has been approaching different buyers among which is Microsoft. But a deal is not on the table yet, according to people who are familiar with the situation.

While VentureBeat's report talks about Microsoft in talks to offer $10 billion, apparently another source in Bloomberg's report has mentioned that Discord is more likely to go public than sell itself.

On their own part, both Microsoft and Discord have declined to comment on this matter. Discord is a San Francisco-based company which is known for its free chat app for gamers which allows them to chat over video, voice, and text.

And with the pandemic situation confining people to their homes, they scrambled for any free chatting app that seemed reliable. This worked in favour of Discord like most other video and voice chat apps. From being limited to gamers it's users grew to be used for study groups, dance classes, book clubs and other virtual meetups.

Discord currently has over 100 million monthly active users and has grown beyond being known only as a gaming chat app. As for Microsoft, it has been looking to expand its portfolio of products to offer which would form a platform for people.

And to that end, Microsoft looked into acquiring social-media app TikTok and even held talks with an interest to acquire Pinterest Inc. According to Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Matthew Kanterman Microsoft's intentions to acquire Discord is in line with its attempt to grow its gaming business more toward software and services.

"There’s a big opportunity to bundle Discord’s premium offering, Nitro, into the Game Pass service to drive more subscriptions from the last reported 18 million." He said. Microsoft interest to grow its gaming business was quite obvious from the fact that it recently acquired ZeniMax Media Inc. for $7.5 billion which owns Bethesda that publishes popular AAA games like The Elder Scrolls and Doom.