Jason Citron Explained

Birth Date:21 September 1984

Jason Citron (born September 21, 1984)[1] is an American businessman[2] and co-founder and CEO of the Discord instant messaging social platform.[3] He is also founder of OpenFeint, a social platform for mobile games.[4] [5]

Biography

Early life

Jason Citron was born on September 21, 1984, in San Francisco, California, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family with a strong business and technology background.[6] [7] His grandfather played a pivotal role in his early fascination with technology by giving him his first computer.[8] By the age of 13, Citron was already proficient in programming, teaching himself QBASIC and even creating his first video game. This early exposure to technology and entrepreneurship significantly shaped his future career path.

Education

Jason Citron pursued his passion for technology by enrolling at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Game Design and Development in 2004. His time at Full Sail provided him with the technical skills and industry knowledge necessary to embark on his journey in the gaming and tech industries. The education he received laid the foundation for his future ventures, where he would combine his love for gaming with his entrepreneurial spirit.

Career

Citron's career began with the founding of Aurora Feint, a mobile game development studio that later evolved into OpenFeint, a social platform for mobile games.[9] OpenFeint became a significant success, eventually being sold to the Japanese company GREE for $104 million in 2011.[10] [11] After this, Citron founded Hammer & Chisel, a gaming company that aimed to create high-quality mobile games.[12] However, the company pivoted when Citron noticed the need for better communication tools for gamers, leading to the creation of Discord in 2015. Discord quickly became a popular communication platform, initially among gamers but later expanding to a wider audience.[13] By 2024, under Citron's leadership, Discord had grown into a multi-billion-dollar company with over 150 million active users per month.

Notes and References

  1. 4166476823 . jasoncitron . Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes. Now I'm officially old. #25 ;-) . Jason . Citron . 2009-09-21 . 2024-05-09.
  2. Web site: Patel . Nilay . 2024-04-22 . Discord CEO Jason Citron on why gaming and group chats are the future of the internet . 2024-05-01 . The Verge . en.
  3. Web site: 2023-09-13 . 2023 TIME100 Next: Jason Citron . 2024-05-01 . Time . en.
  4. Web site: Mark Zuckerberg, Jason Citron more tech CEOs make opening remarks at child safety hearing - CBS News . 2024-05-01 . www.cbsnews.com . en-US.
  5. News: Browning . Kellen . 2021-12-29 . How Discord, Born From an Obscure Game, Became a Social Hub for Young People . 2024-05-01 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  6. Web site: Discord Was Once The Alt-Right’s Favorite Chat App. Now It’s Gone Mainstream And Scored A New $3.5 Billion Valuation . 2024-08-13 . . en-US.
  7. Web site: Why a $10bn Discord sale might not be in tune with the messaging platform's fans . 2024-08-13 . news.sky.com/ . en-US.
  8. Web site: Discord CEO Jason Citron: Net Worth, Salary, and How He Got Into Tech . 2024-08-13 . marketrealist.com . en-US.
  9. Web site: 2010-01-19 . Indie iPhone App Developers Rallying Around OpenFeint . TechCrunch . 2009-04-17 . Sielger, MG.
  10. Web site: Japanese Company GREE Buys Mobile Social Gaming Platform OpenFeint For $104 Million In Cash . Leena . Rao . April 21, 2011 . June 21, 2017 . .
  11. Web site: Intel Invests $3 Million In Mobile Social Gaming Platform OpenFeint. Leena. Rao. October 21, 2010. May 10, 2018. TechCrunch.
  12. News: Fates Forever mobile game maker Hammer & Chisel raises funding from Benchmark and Tencent. Takahashi. Dean. February 10, 2015. VentureBeat. May 1, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160505172425/http://venturebeat.com/2015/02/10/fates-forever-mobile-game-maker-hammer-chisel-raises-funding-from-benchmark-and-tencent/. May 5, 2016. live.
  13. Web site: How Discord, Born From an Obscure Game, Became a Social Hub for Young People . 2024-08-13 . . en-US.