What is Discord’s stock price, and are they publicly traded? Investors cannot purchase shares of Discord because they are a private company. Their competitor, such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a tech stock that is publicly traded. Many sources and company movements indicate a Discord IPO in the next 12 months.
Discord allows its users to communicate by video, chat, or text. The live voice chat feature is their bread and butter and can be integrated into various contexts. It is very popular in the streaming community, especially for gamers. It also reaches a variety of other public and private communities.
Discord built countless communities where people can be themselves and participate in what they love. We will look at Discord’s practical and financial aspects throughout the article.
Chart by TradingView
Table of Contents
Discord Introduction (No Stock Symbol)
Discord is an application where anyone can interact with friends or strangers. In 2015, the company began its operations.
It was created for various gaming communities to connect. Gamers were able to communicate about strategies and play on the Discord platform.
In 2018, Xbox provided the platform support for its users. They were able to link both accounts. This boosted Discord’s credibility and began appealing to more users. Can I buy Discord stock? Nope.
Diversifying
When the pandemic hit, Discord faced a new challenge. How do we accommodate non-gamers on its platform? They responded by creating private and public rooms for anyone to create a community and invite their friends.
Over the years, the company raised funds and expanded its servers and reliability. Many Facebook and WhatsApp users migrated to Discord over privacy issues. They were able to welcome them and adapt to their needs.
Today, Discord has over 150M active monthly users. A variety of communities have been created. Users can now connect with Windows, iOS, Android, PlayStation, and many more platforms.
Discord also integrated YouTube, Spotify, Twitch, and other applications. Users can share screens for many purposes. Let’s look at a few examples outside the video game industry.
Families use it to communicate with each other about anything. Messenger, WhatsApp, and other platforms are more popular outside the US, but Discord is slowly finding its way into their households. Only 30% of Discord users are in the US.
Next, teachers use it to communicate with their students about class activities and news. Finally, tutors also found a way to reach an audience and teach any subject imaginable. Can I buy Discord stock?
Discord Stock IPO
Many public companies tried to acquire Discord due to its increasing popularity. Earlier this year, Microsoft offered $12B for the company. They are expanding their Metaverse and video games sectors, and Discord would have been a great addition.
Amazon bought Twitch, Facebook bought WhatsApp and Instagram, and Google bought YouTube. Microsoft is also trying to buy a social media platform to integrate its technology further.
Amazon, Twitter, and Epic Games also made offers. However, Discord refused all their offers. Furthermore, they keep receiving more funding. Currently, the company is valued at $15B. Lastly, Discord has been hiring top-level executives. All these clues are pointing to an IPO shortly. Many speculate it will happen this year, but there isn’t any proof or application with the SEC yet. Can I buy Discord stock?
Discord Stock Competitors
Discord doesn’t have many direct competitors. Their main audience is gamers, and they are slowly expanding into other spheres. One of their competitors is Slack, which focuses primarily on business clients.
Their platform is very similar to Discord but focuses on a different audience. They also have far fewer monthly users than Discord.
Skype and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are direct competitors with many more years in the game. It’s no wonder Microsoft tried to buy Discord.
Microsoft ($MSFT) TipRanks Stock Forecast Report 3/24
How Does Discord Make Money?
This is the most important part of a business. How does Discord generate revenues? The platform is free. However, the platform has two paid plans.
The first, Nitro, is offered for $9.99 or $99.99 yearly. Users have access to enhanced features and improved system capabilities.
The second, Nitro Classic, is a cheaper option that offers some of the perks for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly.
Some features include a personalized profile, custom emojis, server boosts, uploading files up to 100MB, live streaming, screen sharing, and HD videos—everything to incentivize its users to pay for an enhanced service.
Does Discord have any other revenue streams? Absolutely. They sell merchandise and games on their platform. Unfortunately, the breakdown of every revenue stream isn’t available since Discord isn’t public. Hence, some data on the company isn’t available to the public yet. We have revenue estimates over the last five years.
2016: $5M
2017: $10M
2018: $30M
2019: $45M
2020: $130M
As we can see, revenues were increasing YoY by at least 100%. With the pandemic, that number skyrocketed to almost 300%. They are not yet profitable, which is normal for companies in the same sector at the same growth stage. Discord is attempting to reach beyond the video game chatroom community to increase revenues. What sectors can they reach in the upcoming years?
Isn’t have many direct competitors. Their main audience is gamers, and they are slowly expanding into other spheres. One of their competitors is Slack, which focuses primarily on business clients.
Their platform is very similar to Discord but focuses on a different audience. They also have far fewer monthly users than Discord.
Skype and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are direct competitors with many more years in the game. It’s no wonder Microsoft tried to buy Discord.
COURSE | |||
---|---|---|---|
DESCRIPTION | Learn how to read penny stock charts, premarket preparation, target buy and sell zones, scan for stocks to trade, and get ready for live day trading action | Learn how to buy and sell options, assignment options, implement vertical spreads, and the most popular strategies, and prepare for live options trading | How to read futures charts, margin requirements, learn the COT report, indicators, and the most popular trading strategies, and prepare for live futures trading |
INCLUDED | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Trading scanners • Discord • Live streaming Day Trading > | Daily watch lists • Trade rooms • Options scanners • Discord • Live streaming Options > | Futures target levels • Trade rooms • Real time teaching • Discord • Live streaming Futures > |
What’s Next for Discord?
Discord has a lot of work left to do before becoming a successful company. They must diversify their model while keeping the appeal for their base group, gamers.
Can I buy Discord stock? Not as of yet. But maybe in the future. However, they are making moves.
Partnerships with major tech giants are a step in the right direction. In 2021, the platform made two significant acquisitions.
Acquisitions
The first, Ubiquity6, is an augmented reality start-up. Their goal is to connect people through shared experiences. Discord is trying to bring people together socially. I assume they hope to bring games and social interactions together by teaming up.
Their second acquisition is Sentropy. Gamers tend to use foul language, and Discord is trying to prevent thirteen-year-olds from further angering their parents. Sentropy is an AI-powered software designed to detect and remove online posts designed towards harassment or hate.
I think it’s a good feature for younger and family audiences, but keeping the chat R-rated is essential for anyone of age. Can I buy Discord stock? Not yet, but maybe these acquisitions can help it go public.
Future Features and Acquisitions
How can Discord get better? They need to capitalize on their live voice chat feature. To begin with, they can use Instagram’s influencer model. We’ll keep to the gamer example. Top streamers can receive branded content, and Discord receives a cut from their proceeds.
The same streamers can start charging users access to their server, and Discord can take a percentage of their revenues. Think OnlyFans meets video games. They can also use Roblox’s (NYSE: RBLX) Metaverse model, where they can host online video game competitions, and users can pay a fee to attend the event as if they were there.
What else can Discord do? They must work on their video game segment and optimize its features. Developers can integrate Discord’s features into their products and sell them on the platform. Discord gets a percentage of all the sales.
The platform can also acquire or develop a team to build its gaming services. We always strive to find the next game or new ways to interact with friends. Capitalizing on this is essential.
Final Thoughts: Discord Stock
To conclude, Discord isn’t public yet. The company is getting plenty of interest from Microsoft, Amazon, and other tech giants, but to no avail. Since the company isn’t a tech giant, they are untouched by many restrictions hitting FAANG.
If Discord does go public in the next 12 months, they still have a lot of work to do. They must grow from a simple video game chat company. They have the tools and the money to build unless they go the easy way out and get acquired by the big guns. Time will tell.