Discord is no longer in talks with companies to sell itself, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Back in March, reports surfaced that the social platform was speaking with various companies — Microsoft chief among them — to potentially sell for more than $10 billion USD (about $12.6 billion CAD). Per Bloomberg, Microsoft had offered the highest bid with $12 billion USD (about $15.1 billion CAD), but to no avail.
Other companies who are said to have been in the bidding include Amazon and Epic Games. These three companies having a big interest in Discord makes sense, given that all of them are deeply invested in the video game industry — Discord’s primary demographic — in big ways.
Microsoft, of course, has its massive Xbox division, while Epic Games is the company behind mega-sensation Fortnite and the profitable Epic Games Store marketplace. Amazon, for its part, has a U.S.-only game streaming service called Luna, as well as various gaming projects in the works. A major platform like Discord would no doubt help any of these companies grow their efforts in the gaming space.
It’s unclear exactly what made Discord change its mind regarding selling itself, though The Wall Street Journal notes that it’s still open to renewed talks with Microsoft down the line.
For now, Bloomberg reports that the company is now planning to go public at some point down the line. Overall, the company is said to be looking to expand beyond being a “gamer-centric” service into a more universal social platform, says Bloomberg.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
