Discord has announced that co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down from his role, effective April 28, 2025. Humam Sakhnini will take over as the company's new Chief Executive Officer.
Citron, who has been at the helm of Discord for a decade since starting it up with Stanislav Vishnevskiy, is not leaving the company entirely. Instead, he is moving into an advisor role for the new CEO and will stay on Discord's Board of Directors. Vishnevskiy will continue in his role as Chief Technology Officer.
Humam Sakhnini is no stranger to gaming giants. He was running the show at Activision Blizzard (makers of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft), and before that, he kept things steady at King Digital (the company behind Candy Crush). His track record with big public gaming companies seems like a perfect fit, especially since Discord’s been chatting with investors and might be eyeing an IPO down the road.
In fact, Citron mentioned in a letter to Discord employees that bringing someone like Sakhnini on board is a step towards potentially becoming a public company someday.
Citron explained his decision, saying it is part of figuring out how he can best help the company succeed in its "next chapter." He described the CEO job as always changing and felt it was time for him to "literally hire myself out of a job" to bring in a leader with the specific experience needed for what's coming next.
Citron said the following in the Discord announcement:
Building Discord over the last decade has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games. It’s a mission I’ve dedicated my career to, and I'm confident that passing the torch to Humam is the right evolution for Discord's future.
His deep gaming industry expertise and proven track record of scaling businesses while fostering genuine friendships through play and shared experiences positions us perfectly for our next phase of growth. I believe this transition will accelerate our momentum and unlock even greater possibilities for Discord, our consumers, partners, and the overall gaming ecosystem in the years ahead.
Discord started as a voice and text platform mainly for gamers to chat while playing, which was Citron's original focus. It has since grown hugely, now used by over 200 million people every month, and it serves a vast range of communities and interests that go way beyond just gaming. Even so, the company has recently put more focus back on its gaming origins, looking into new ways to make money like advertising, small in-app purchases, and offering tools for game developers to build social features.
This switch at the top comes after Discord rolled out some cool updates, including a brand new PC overlay built from the ground up for smoother performance and better game compatibility. The desktop app also got a fresh look with new themes and layout choices. Plus, voice and video controls are way easier to find during calls.
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