Microsoft Set To Acquire Discord In A Deal Reportedly Worth $10 Billion

Software company Microsoft (MSFT), has been reported to have interest in acquiring Discord, a digital platform first used by video-gamers to communicate while playing, for $10 billion.

With over 100 million monthly active users out of its 300 million registered users and about 850 million messages sent daily, Discord has quickly established itself as a top messaging site in less than its six years of existence. Becoming widely popular due to the lockdown last year, the site saw more than 100 million users flock to use its voice calls, video calls, and text messaging technologies daily, forcing it to rebrand from a video-gaming site to a digital community.

In 2020 alone, the company generated $130 million in revenue, an impressive 188%year-on-year increase. This year, it was valued at $7 billion, $3 billion less than the amount Microsoft is offering for the company.

The 46-year-old Microsoft isn't new to the game of acquiring smaller companies in order to strengthen their position as a tech giant and keep up with competition from other mega tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. The company is interested in improving its communication programs and improving its $143 billion annual revenue and acquiring Discord with its millions of users will play a huge part in making it happen.

Founded in April 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft is one of the biggest software companies and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, ranking 21st in the Fortune 500 list of companies with the largest revenues. In 2019, the company became the third public company in the United States to have a valuation of over $1 trillion after competitors Apple and Amazon. 

Companies previously acquired by Microsoft include:

• - Professional social networking site LinkedIn for $27 billion on the 8 of December 2016
  
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• -Telecoms application Skype in a deal worth about $8.5 billion on May 10, 2011
  
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• - Online platform for software developers, Github on the 25th of October 2018 for $7.5 billion
  

The company has also tried to purchase social media sites Pinterest Inc and TikTok as well as Nintendo, for its Xbox. 

Discord users are currently able to link and showcase their Xbox accounts on the platform. With Discord's popularity in the gaming community, it is expected that Microsoft will want to be in charge of the platform.

 Discord has been reported to have held talks with one of Microsoft's biggest competitors, Amazon and Epic Games Inc. A private source however said that the company is more likely to go public than sell.