Jason Citron is a businessman and developer who is one of the co-founders of the social media platform Discord. Discord has been valued at approximately $15 billion.
Previously, Citron created another platform named OpenFeint, which he sold for approximately $104 million. He has a net worth of approximately $800 million.
| Name | Jason Citron |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth: | September 21st, 1984 (36 years old) |
| Place of Birth: | San Francisco, California |
| Height: | Unknown |
| Profession: | Developer, businessman |
| Marital Status: | Unknown |
| Children: | Unknown |
| Parents: | Unknown |
| Net Worth Estimate: | $800 million |
Net Worth
It is unclear what Citron’s exact net worth is. However, it is speculated to be around $800 million.
Most of Citron’s net worth comes from his ownership of the social media site, Discord. In 2021, the company’s investors valued it at $15 billion during financing (1). As such, this has significantly contributed to increasing his net worth.
Additionally, Citron founded and previously owned another social media site named OpenFeint. In 2011, he sold the company for $104 million, contributing to his net worth (2). Following this, Citron owned the game development company Hammer & Chisel (3).
Company
Citron’s first company was OpenFeint, which he sold in 2011 to GREE for approximately $104 million (4). However, according to financial reports, the company had annual revenue of $285,000 before Citron sold it. It also reportedly made losses of roughly $6.6 million (5).
Citron founded the games development company Hammer & Chisel (6). The company’s annual revenue is unknown. However, in 2013, it received approximately $8.22 million in funding from investors.
In 2015, it also received funding of an unknown amount from Benchmark Capital and Tencent. This investment round likely exceeded the original $8.22 million (7).
Citron’s most famous, and most profitable company, is Discord. In 2016, investors paid a $20 million stake hold in the company (8).
In 2017, the company received approximately $150 million from investors.
These included Greenoaks Capital, Accel, and others. Two years later, the site continued to receive investment, with a round of $300 million from new investors.
In 2018, the company received a $2 billion valuation, along with investments of approximately $150 million (10).
In 2020, this valuation increased to $7 billion. However, other investment companies contested this amount, offering approximately $18 billion valuations. During this year, it was speculated that the company’s revenue had reached $130 million per year (11).
In 2021, Microsoft offered a $10 billion investment bid for the company, though this later fell through (12). Discord is also known to have rejected a takeover of roughly $12 billion.
Additionally, in the same year, it raised approximately $500 million through financing, with a valuation of $15 billion (13).
Citron has also made several investments in other businesses outside of his own companies.
In 2012, Citron contributed part of the $1.6 million investment seed round in the education company Class Dojo. In 2019, Citron invested part of a $3.6 million investment seed round in Campuswire, another education-related business.
Two years later, he also contributed an unknown amount to the $75 million investment raised in series C for Superhuman. His most recently known investment was for series A funding of Backbone, which was approximately $40 million.
It is unclear how much Citron contributed to these investing rounds (14).
Lifetime Earnings
Citron’s first job was as a programmer and animator for the animation studio Icebox (15). It is unclear how much Citron earned while working here.
However, on average, an animation programmer earns approximately $74,977, with the lowest salary at $63,419 and the highest at $160,000 (16). Since Citron was 18 when he started this position, his salary was likely towards the lower end of this scale.
Following this, Citron became an executive producer for Fox Interactive (17). Again, his exact salary is unknown here. However, an executive producer at a similar company, Squanch Games, is speculated to earn between $138,532 to $184,926 per year.
The average salary is approximately $161,729 annually (18).
Citron also held positions at other companies, including IGN and GameSpy. However, his position at these companies is unknown (19).
The average employee salary at IGN is $134,560 per year (20).
Real Estate
Citron’s exact address and previous real estate history are unknown. However, it is speculated that he currently lives in San Francisco, California (21). Houses in this area have an average listing price of $1.29 million, or $102,000 per square foot (22).
Early Life
Citron was born in San Francisco, California, on September 21st, 1984. His parents’ names are unclear, although it is known that his father was an entrepreneur who worked on computers.
Similarly, his mother worked as an actress. It is also unclear which high school he studied at. However, Citron began playing video games from a young age. As a child, Citron’s favourite console was a Nintendo Entertainment System.
When Citron was a teenager, he began programming video games, starting with the Commodore 64 and later progressing to the Amiga 1000.
Citron later studied at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Game Design and Development. His final grade is unknown.
Career
After graduating, Citron began working in the video game industry, becoming an executive producer for Fox Interactive. As part of this position, Citron helped to create several games for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles.
Following this, Citron worked for other organizations in the industry, including GameSpy and IGN.
Between 2006 and 2009, Citron was forced to temporarily quit work as he faced numerous health problems. During this time, he created the iPhone puzzle game Aurora Feint.
Although it was initially somewhat successful, Citron struggled to attract players to the game due to its higher price. As such, Citron was forced to close the video game down.
Eventually, in 2009, Citron worked with his close friend, Dan Islamic, to found the company OpenFeint. OpenFeint was designed to be a social media network exclusively for gamers, and the site proved to be a success.
However, Citron recognized that many investors would see this site as a risky endeavour, so he encouraged a reporter for TechCrunch to write an article about the business.
Following TechCrunch publishing this article and a showcase at an event, Citron received applications from 400 developers to commit to the product, leading to it being developed.
The company also received multiple investors, including approximately $6 million from the Japan-based company DeNA.
After this initial investment round, the company received a further $5 million and boasted around 10 million users.
The next year, OpenFeint had another investment of $4 million through Intel Capital. However, in 2011, Citron decided to sell the company to GREE, a Japanese company, for approximately $104 million.
Citron then re-entered the game industry with a development company named Hammer & Chisel. Through this company, Citron released another video game called Fates Forever. Unfortunately, this game also proved to be unsuccessful, though it inspired Citron to focus on video game communication software again.
In 2015, Citron launched Discord publicly, and by the following year, it had investments of approximately $20 million.
This was due to the growth rate almost exceeding 1 million users each month; later that year, it had 25 million users. By 2017, it had $50 million in investments and over 90 million users.
Discord continued to see numerous successes, achieving an initial $2 billion valuation and an extra $150 million investment in 2018. The next year, Discord reported having over 250 million users.
By 2020, the valuation had increased significantly, with some sources reporting that it was worth between $7 to $18 billion. Additionally, the company had achieved $130 million annually by this point.
The company continued to receive offers of investment, including $10 billion from Microsoft for a takeover and another $12 billion offer from another company.
However, Citron rejected both of these years and received an approximate $15 billion valuation in the same year. It also reported $500 million of investment. In 2022, CNBC reported that the company had a valuation of $14.7 billion (23).
Discord has won several awards in recent years.
In 2017, the site won the “Best Voice Chat Application” award at the Game Developers Choice Award. Two years later, it won a Webby Award for “Best Social Media Site.” In 2021, the company appeared at number 3 on CNBC’s “Disruptor 50” list of businesses.
Career Highlights
- In 2008, he created the game Aurora Feint
- In 2009, he founded the site OpenFeint
- In 2011, he sold OpenFeint for $104 million
- In 2015, he launched Discord
- In 2018, Discord was valued at $2 billion
- In 2020, Discord was valued between $7 to $18 billion
- In 2022, Discord was valued at $14.7 billion
Personal Life
Citron has kept his personal life relatively private. It is unknown whether he is married or in a relationship. He does not appear to have any children.
Interesting Facts
- Citron has contributed to several charitable organizations, including efforts to make Computer Science more accessible for children in America (24).
- Citron is a fan of the video game series, Final Fantasy (25).
- Citron also enjoys the game Ori and the Will of the Wisp (26).
- In 2018, Citron gave employees of Discord the option to work at home to participate in government elections (27).
Summary
Jason Citron is a developer and businessman best known for founding the social media platform Discord. In 2022, Discord was valued at almost $15 billion by investors.
He also founded several other companies, including OpenFeint and Hammer & Chisel. Citron has a net worth of approximately $800 million.