The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported (4/20) that online messenger Discord has suspended sales negotiations with Microsoft and is reviewing the IPO.
Earlier, the WSJ said last month that Microsoft was negotiating to acquire Discord. And that the acquisition price could be more than $10 billion.
Currently, the deal is closed. But there is still a possibility that Discord will resume discussions on the sale in the future, said sources.
WSJ reportedly showed interest in acquiring Discord by at least three companies. And in addition to MS, game company Epic Games and e-commerce company Amazon entered the race to acquire Discord.
Major foreign media, including WSJ, evaluated the failure of the negotiations, saying that Discord seems to have decided that it is advantageous to proceed with the IPO rather than sell it based on strong business performance.
Discord hired Thomas Marchinkowski, a former member of Pinterest, as its chief financial officer, last month to conduct the IPO.
San Francisco-based Discord is a messenger that allow users to communicate through video, voice, and text. And it started in 2015 to support mobile games.
Discord, which was known as a game voice messenger, became popular as it was also used as a video gathering app such as online learning, dance classes, book clubs, and virtual gatherings in the wake of the pandemic.
Its monthly users doubled to 140 million last year. Therefore sales increased from $45 million in 2019 to $130 million, but no profit conversion has yet been made.
Meanwhile, Microsoft negotiated last year to acquire TikTok, a video-sharing platform. But failed to push for the acquisition due to former Donald Trump administration’s checks.
