Discord announced today that it has appointed Humam Sakhnini as Chief Executive Officer, effective Monday, April 28, 2025. Sakhnini will also join the company’s Board of Directors.
Jason Citron, who co-founded Discord with Stanislav Vishnevskiy and has served as CEO since then, will remain on the Board of Directors but will transition to a role as Advisor to the CEO.
Meanwhile, Vishnevskiy will continue serving in his capacity as Chief Technology Officer.
Discord has a new CEO, Humam Sakhnini.
Co-founder Jason Citron will remain on the board and transition to an advisory role. pic.twitter.com/wX1hdU47hp
— Zach Bussey 🇨🇦 (@zachbussey) April 23, 2025
Why Humam Sakhnini?
Discord hailed Sakhnini as a great fit for the job because he has over 15 years of gaming industry experience, which would be useful at his new role, especially since it has been re-focusing on gaming.
His most recent stint was with Activision Blizzard, where he was the vice-chairman responsible for managing a multi-billion dollar game portfolio including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush.
Before that, he was President of King Digital Entertainment, where he succeeded the founding CEO and led the company to record performance after it was acquired by Activision Blizzard.
Humam Sakhnini is joining Discord at a crucial period
Discord has always been regarded as a cornerstone of the global gaming ecosystem, catering to over 200 million monthly active users worldwide who spend billions of hours daily playing games across thousands of titles.
Last year saw the company return its focus to its gaming roots, providing various services that went beyond its core consumer subscription service, including advertising, micro-transactions, and social infrastructure to game developers.
This year and in subsequent years, Discord plans to do more with the help of Sakhnini. Co-founder Jason Citron, in a statement, expressed faith in Sakhnini’s ability to meet expectations.
“I’m confident that passing the torch to Humam is the right evolution for Discord’s future,” he said. “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.”
Sakhnini has also shared a statement in response to his new appointment. He expressed excitement for being allowed the privilege to join Discord at such a crucial time, praising the app for all the good it has done for the gaming ecosystem.
“I look forward to working with Stan and Discord’s talented team to scale our business while staying true to the company’s core mission and the special connection it has with player communities,” he said.
Reactions on social media have leaned toward wariness, as users seem to think this spells the end for Discord’s dominance in the gaming sphere.
It also does not help that the NY Times has reported that the top brass at Discord have been meeting with investment bankers to talk about an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this year.
The NYT’s anonymous sources emphasized that the talks between Discord and the bankers are just exploratory for the moment, and any IPO inclinations among the firm’s brass could still change.
Users are panicking regardless, with many worried that once it goes public, the platform will stop catering solely to the community and start trying to please the shareholders.
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