Discord exploring sale worth more than $10 Billion

[BRiT]

So $7 billion valuation in December 2020, and then turn down an offer of $12 Billion in April 2021. That's a 71% premium on it in just 4 months.

 

[eastmen]

interestingly this has been in the works for a little while now, on the sony blog they said that sony invested into discords series H round. This round of investment occurred in december 2020 at a $7B valuation

Some info on the funding round more generally
Discord bags $100M funding in Series H round at $7B valuation (techstory.in)

Obviously this is a very minor stake all things considered, even if sony had been the sole investor in the funding round, which they weren't, they would have a ~1.4% stake.

I wonder if this makes microsoft up their offer of (according to reports) $12B

My guess ? Since its reported that Discord went to MS , I bet they are using MS to either get a larger purchase from a different company or they are hoping the news of a buyout prompts a higher funding round ?

 

[liams]

My guess ? Since its reported that Discord went to MS , I bet they are using MS to either get a larger purchase from a different company or they are hoping the news of a buyout prompts a higher funding round ?

all the news around the talks between microsoft and discord did seem a bit leaky, it could make sense if they were purposely leaking info to pump their valuation up.

I wonder if microsoft will invest in their next round? If anything just to ensure that they can get a board seat when/if discord goes public

 

[eastmen]

all the news around the talks between microsoft and discord did seem a bit leaky, it could make sense if they were purposely leaking info to pump their valuation up.

I wonder if microsoft will invest in their next round? If anything just to ensure that they can get a board seat when/if discord goes public

maybe , they might have already ? Maybe they will still try and buy ? I dunno stay tune same bat time , same bat channel !

 

[liams]

maybe , they might have already ? Maybe they will still try and buy ? I dunno stay tune same bat time , same bat channel !

yeah its all a waiting game at this point!

I really think that microsoft will regret not acquiring discord while they have the chance, even if they have to pay more money than they feel comfortable right now. I could really see discord becoming almost facebook 2.0 as they expand their focus away from just gaming

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Interesting but if it's anything like Xbox integration with Discord - I recall they had something - then it is pretty useless.

 

[eastmen]

yeah its all a waiting game at this point!

I really think that microsoft will regret not acquiring discord while they have the chance, even if they have to pay more money than they feel comfortable right now. I could really see discord becoming almost facebook 2.0 as they expand their focus away from just gaming

It could be but I would be interested in what the business model actually would be for Discord.

Right now you get premium and you can have a server boost and a customer profile ? Doesn't seem like it will get a lot of uptake from users ? Unless I'm missing something. I have discord but rarely use it. I'm not sure how else to monetize it as I doubt many gamers want ads to pop up in their chats or channels. I can see Sony integrating it into PlayStation and so it doesn't have to make a profit on its own , just make PlayStation more popular. Same with MS and Xbox. But i really think discord only becomes a viable thing when its bought by a big company that already has a revenue stream

 

[liams]

It could be but I would be interested in what the business model actually would be for Discord.

Right now you get premium and you can have a server boost and a customer profile ? Doesn't seem like it will get a lot of uptake from users ? Unless I'm missing something. I have discord but rarely use it. I'm not sure how else to monetize it as I doubt many gamers want ads to pop up in their chats or channels. I can see Sony integrating it into PlayStation and so it doesn't have to make a profit on its own , just make PlayStation more popular. Same with MS and Xbox. But i really think discord only becomes a viable thing when its bought by a big company that already has a revenue stream

yeah I agree that discord makes sense as part of a larger offering. I think monetizing the platform with ads would turn out better than people think, gamers apparently hate ads (as do I), and swear up and down that they will ditch a platform if they start seeing lots of ads, but they never seem to leave. Look at twitch, that has become absolutely riddled with ads, which are unquestionably more obtrusive than anything that discord could get away with (a full screen video ad that takes over your viewing experience for a set amount of time), and no one is flocking away from twitch.

 

[see colon]

Interesting but if it's anything like Xbox integration with Discord - I recall they had something - then it is pretty useless.

I think they offer Gamepass perks and you can sign into your Xbox account within discord to have some social features (see who's playing what, maybe join a game). That's pretty much it.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I think they offer Gamepass perks and you can sign into your Xbox account within discord to have some social features (see who's playing what, maybe join a game). That's pretty much it.

Then I wonder if Discord's integration is gonna be better on Playstation. But in a year though...I wonder why the announced today.
Also I am curious then if deeper integration will be on Xbox too.

 

[eastmen]

yeah I agree that discord makes sense as part of a larger offering. I think monetizing the platform with ads would turn out better than people think, gamers apparently hate ads (as do I), and swear up and down that they will ditch a platform if they start seeing lots of ads, but they never seem to leave. Look at twitch, that has become absolutely riddled with ads, which are unquestionably more obtrusive than anything that discord could get away with (a full screen video ad that takes over your viewing experience for a set amount of time), and no one is flocking away from twitch.

Most of my friends have left twitch and just watch stuff pre recorded stuff on youtube. I think its a lot of young boys flocking to the platform for various reasons

 

[Deleted member 11852]

They didn't necessarily miss on the next big thing, they failed to capitalize when they had the chance. The brought tablets to the mass market long before Apple or Android, but it was too soon and they stagnated on it too quickly.

Microsoft has lost a few markets where they originally had a compelling product or service. Windows CE/HPC/Pocket PC OSs were not bad for the time - I had both an iPaq and a Jornada 720 (clamshell keyboard/screen) device. They let their significant market penetration in the mobile OS space stagnate and lost it. I also remember when the Internet Explorer browser was actually really competitive and decent. Once again, they let their product stagnate and KHTML-derivivate web-browsers (Safari/Webkit then Chrome and then others) ate it's lunch both on the desktop and mobile space.

It feels like Microsoft are at their best when the are hungry for a market in which they have a small share. Once they are doing well they seem confused as to what to do next. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. A bit like a dig chasing a car. Look at Windows and Office; Microsoft dominate both the desktop OS and productivity app markets and get neither product is doing interesting.

 

[BRiT]

Have you not looked at any of their Power platforms and how MS is integrating AI / ML to help clients make the most of their business processes? Or do you mean for average home Joe's?

 

[iroboto]

is discord really worth 10B? jfc

they must have insane numbers

slack really f'd up. They just lifted slack and added voice channels and better voice encoding.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Most of my friends have left twitch and just watch stuff pre recorded stuff on youtube. I think its a lot of young boys flocking to the platform for various reasons

Most people I know switched the other way. But then most of the YouTube creators we watched for gaming have left YouTube because it's just not that profitable to make gaming video's for YouTube unless you're a mega-personality (millions of views). You need far fewer subscribers in order to make a profit on Twitch. Some of them were still making a profit, but they got tired of having to constantly deal with false video claims, false copyright claims, etc.

Now-a-days the only time I go to YouTube for a video is for History channels and the occasional LinusTech video. But even here, some of the History YouTubers are starting to abandon YouTube in favor of either Twitch or subscription based video streaming services.

Regards,
SB