Who Owns Discord?

Discord Inc. owns Discord, a communication platform that was founded by  Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy in 2015. Despite rumors saying that Microsoft would take over the company, it is still privately held. 

Discord’s Detailed Ownership

Let’s explore below the top individual shareholders and the institutional shareholders of the company, as well as its current owners.

Who are Discord’s top individual shareholders?

As Discord is a privately held company, information about its top individual shareholders is not publicly available. Private companies are not required to disclose information about their ownership structure or individual shareholders, and they typically keep this information confidential.

Who are the Institutional Shareholders at Discord?

Discord is a privately owned company, and this means that it is not obligated to publicly reveal any information about its institutional shareholders. This kind of information is usually confidential for private companies. And this means it is not available through publicly accessible sources like financial reports or stock exchange filings.

Because of the size and popularity of the Discord platform, it’s no doubt that it has interest from various institutional investors. For example, private equity funds, venture capital firms, equity funds, and other massive investment firms. These investors may have funded the company in exchange for equity stakes, making them institutional shareholders.

Who Runs Discord at the Moment?

While Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy founded Discord, the company is currently privately owned by Discord, Inc. Some of the leading investors in Discord include Sony, Tencent, Index Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity investments, and Accel.

The History of Discord

On the following topics, we’ll explore how the company was initially founded and how much the brand is currently worth.

How did Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy Found Discord?

Stan Vishnevskiy and Jason Citron’s experience in the mobile gaming industry came in handy to help them establish Discord. Their shared vision for transforming communication for gamers was also significant in their venture. Jason and Stan had previously established and worked together at OpenFeint, a mobile gaming company, in 2008. The company was a social gaming platform that provided game developers with essential tools to build and distribute mobile games. And also connected players. 

In 2011, Citron and Vishnevskiy sold OpenFeint to Japanese gaming company GREE for $104 million. After the acquisition, Citron stayed on at GREE for a while, but eventually left to start his own gaming startup called Hammer & Chisel.

Hammer & Chisel initially focused on developing a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game called Fates Forever, which was released in 2014 but failed to gain traction. Citron and his team began to pivot the company towards creating a better communication platform for gamers after they noticed that existing communication tools were not meeting the needs of the gaming community.

Vishnevskiy, who had been working on another project after leaving OpenFeint, reconnected with Citron and joined Hammer & Chisel to help build the new platform. Together, they worked on developing a voice chat app for gamers that was easy to use, had low latency, high-quality voice communication, and customizable features.

The result of their efforts was Discord, which released its beta version in 2015. It hit the industry hard and became immensely popular among gamers. The company’s success demonstrates Jason and Stan’s and also their broad understanding of the gaming industry. It also reflects their ability to recognize and solve a core problem in the market.

How Much is the Discord Brand Worth?

Discord is a privately owned company, and this means that its brand value is not revealed to the public. What’s more, estimating its exact worth is difficult. But, from its latest funding round in 2021, the company was valued at $15 billion.

At this point, it’s important to mention that the value of a brand depends on a range of factors. For example, its customer loyalty, brand recognition, financial performance, and market position. Discord is among the top communication platforms for online communities. Its loyal user base is still growing, boosting its popularity and recognition among artists, gamers, and musicians. 

The current valuation of the company is not available to the general public.

What Else Should I Know About Discord?

Discord is a popular communication platform. It has various features and capabilities for its users. Here are some additional interesting facts about Discord.

• You can access Discord from multiple platforms: These include mobile, desktop, and web platforms, and this makes it easy for users to access and use the platform from their preferred gadgets;
• Discord has a large user base: By September 2021, the company’s registered users worldwide were over 150 million. Millions of new users join the platform every month;
• Discord offers voice and text chat: With these features, users can communicate with one another in real time, and that makes it an ideal platform for online gaming, and socializing social meetings;
• Different communities use Discord: The platform is popular among gamers, artists, educators, musicians, and businesses;
• Discord is customizable: It allows users to create and customize their channels, permissions, and roles, and this makes it easy to create and manage online communities;
• Discord is mainly focused on security: It uses encryption to protect user data and offers different security features to guarantee user safety. For example, two-factor authentication and IP location tracking;
• Discord offers many integrations: It provides integrations with other services and applications, such as YouTube, Spotify, and Twitch. This allows users to streamline workflows while making the communication experience convenient for every user;
• Discord is used for many different customer segments: Discord is a much versatile and robust communication platform that offers a wide range of capabilities for users. Whether you are a gamer, artist, musician, educator, or business professional, there is likely something for you on Discord.

What is Discord’s IPO Story?

Discord has attracted millions of registered users in the last few years. Part of this growth has been attributed to various successful funding rounds. One of its latest and largest funding rounds was in 2022, after which the company’s value hit more than $15 billion. Rumors of the company’s IPO in the recent future are rife, but the exact date is yet to be made public.

Discord’s Revenue and Usage Statistics

 Here are some key usage statistics for Discord:

• Active users: By September 2021, Discord had over 150 million registered users worldwide. Millions of new users join the platform every month;
• Monthly active users: Discord had over 140 million monthly active users by December 2020, up from 56 million in 2019;
• Daily active users: By December 2020, reports showed that the company had 56 million daily active users. This was an increase from 13.5 million in 2019;
• Server activity: In 2020, Discord reported that there were over 19 million active servers on its platform;
• Voice minutes: Discord users spent over 4 billion minutes per day on voice chat as of December 2020.

This overall trend shows that Discord has experienced considerable growth in usage and engagement over the past few years and continues to be a popular platform for online communication and collaboration.

While the number of registered users on Discord is likely to escalate, direct revenues may reduce in the coming years. This is because the platform offers a big percentage of its features (video communication, text, and VoIP) free of charge.

The company collects revenue from user subscription yearly packages. These are: 

• Basic: Available for $29.99
• Classic: Available for $49.99
• Standard: Available for $99.99

All these packages come with perks such as HD streaming, server boosters, and personalized emojis. The company’s total revenue from premium membership subscriptions in 2022 was $220 million.

During the first quarter of 2023, the company’s revenue was $55 million, and this was a drop from the previous year. Discord uses its revenue to invest in new features and improve the platform to maintain the top position in the industry.

What are some of Discord’s Business Milestones?

• Founding and Launch: Discord was founded by Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy in 2015. And it launched its beta version in the same year;
• Series A Funding: In January 2016, Discord raised $8.2 million in a Series A funding round led by Index Ventures, with participation from other prominent investors;
• Series B Funding: In February 2017, Discord raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Greylock Partners, with participation from other investors;
• Nitro Subscription: In January 2017, Discord launched its Nitro subscription service, which offered premium features such as animated emojis, custom profile badges, and higher upload limits;
• Expansion of Features: Over the years, Discord expanded its features beyond voice chat to include text chat, video chat, screen sharing, and other communication tools;
• User Growth: As of December 2020, Discord reported having over 140 million monthly active users and 56 million daily active users.

These milestones show the significant growth and success that the company has achieved within a short period of time. The platform’s focus on user experience, community building, and innovation has made it a popular choice among diverse users and industries.

What Changes Has Discord Experienced in the Recent Past?

There have been some recent changes to the ownership structure of Discord, especially after its planned acquisition by Microsoft. In December 2021, Microsoft announced that it had agreed to acquire Discord for a reported $10 billion. 

Under the terms of the acquisition, Discord would operate as a standalone business within Microsoft while its co-founders, Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, would continue leading the company and report to Microsoft’s executive vice president of gaming, Phil Spencer.

The acquisition by Microsoft would have been a significant milestone for Discord, which has grown rapidly since its launch in 2015, becoming a popular communication platform for gamers, creators, and communities.

The acquisition would also have been a strategic move for Microsoft — the brand had been expanding its gaming business in recent years and saw Discord as a way to further enhance its gaming ecosystem.

There were some rumors and reports of other potential suitors for Discord before Microsoft’s acquisition was announced — for example, Amazon and Epic Games. However, these reports were not confirmed, and, eventually, Microsoft emerged as the possible buyer. But things changed when Discord declined Microsoft’s acquisition plan, sending the latter back to the drawing board. Many people thought the decision was unwise.

Even so, the platform registered thousands of new members during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also held acquisition discussions with other companies like Twitter. Nonetheless, these talks never progressed.

Conclusion

Discord has transformed into a popular communication platform for gamers, creators, and communities. Besides its voice chat, the platform has other features, which are text chat, video chat, and screen sharing. It also has other communication tools, and accommodates over 140 million monthly active users, and 56 million daily active users as of December 2020.

The brand’s success can be attributed to its user-friendly design, low latency, high-quality voice communication, and customizable features. Its co-founders have a robust background in the mobile gaming industry, and were able to identify and solve a core problem in the market with the development of the company.