Discord Reportedly Ends Buyout Talks With Potential Buyers — Microsoft Included

Sometime last month, reports emerged that Microsoft Corp. was in discussions to acquire video game-focused chat platform Discord Inc., for more than $10 billion, and that was according to a report by Bloomberg News which cited sources familiar with the matter. Bloomberg also mentioned that the voice chat app Discord had previously talked with Amazon and “Fortnite” maker Epic Games Inc.

That report had some Discord fans on edge because Microsoft doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to buying up and maintaining messaging services, so this must be pleasant news to those who were hesitant about a potential Microsoft buyout of Discord: a new report from The Wall Street Journal says that Discord has stopped talks of acquisitions with potential buyers, including Microsoft. This news comes from anonymous sources familiar with Discord’s plans, who now say that Discord is looking to go public at some point in the future.

Specifically, talks between Microsoft and Discord have been ended without a deal, but WSJ’s sources indicate that an acquisition isn’t off the table entirely and that buyout discussions could be rekindled in the future. The sources also said that Discord had offers from as many as three companies before deciding to stay independent.

With that many offers – including Microsoft’s rumored $10 billion whopper – it seems that Discord may have indeed been close to selling at one point or another. It sounds like the company still hasn’t made up its mind regarding going public in the future either, considering that WSJ’s sources say that buyout talks could be revived in the future.

So, for the moment at least, Discord is going to stay independent and those who were worried about it following the same path as Skype can breathe a little easier today. Obviously, nothing is confirmed until Discord itself says it, so we’ll see if the company has anything official to say in the coming days and weeks.