Discord co-founder Jason Citron is stepping down as the company’s CEO, and former Activision Blizzard vice chairman Humam Sakhnini is taking over the company.
Since its launch in 2015, Discord has grown to become one of the most popular messaging apps among gamers and non-gamers alike.
It features video and voice chat, game streaming and dozens of activities for users to enjoy from anywhere in the world.
Co-founder Jason Citron has acted as CEO for the last almost 10 years, but on Wednesday, April 23, the company revealed he’s stepping away from the role.
Discord’s new CEO is a former Activision boss
On April 28, 2025, Citron will step down into a CEO advisory role according to a blog post from Discord, and they have already secured his replacement.
Humam Sakhnini, former vice chairman of Activision Blizzard, will step into the role on that same date. Before his role as chairman, Sakhnini was president of King after it was acquired by ActiBlizz.
This change comes as Discord is reportedly preparing for an IPO, which would make the company publicly traded on the stock market.
News of the CEO swap quickly made its way to social media, and fans flocked to the comments of posts to share their thoughts.
Many are concerned about the new CEO bringing more microtransactions into the app, as some of Activision’s most popular games, like Call of Duty and Overwatch, feature them.
“Wonderful… get ready for microtransactions… Get 5 chat tokens for $5 so you can talk to your friends in your private Discord server!” one user commented.
Another said: “Watch how monetized Discord becomes.”
Others are remaining cautious, however, with one user curious how someone from a major gaming company could run Discord.
“Oh wow, that’s a big one. Curious to see how someone with Activision and King experience will steer the Discord ship,” replied one user.
This change comes as Discord continues to innovate and add features to its popular app. Most recently, the company began testing a face scanning feature to help verify the age of its users.
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.