Discord is said to have quietly submitted paperwork for an IPO

Discord, a popular chat service centered around gaming, might still be moving forward with plans to go public.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the company has secretly submitted paperwork for its initial public offering. It is said to be working with financial giants Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on this initiative since at least March 2025.

Sources indicate Discord might still decide against going public. In the U.S., confidential submissions are customary in the lead-up to an IPO, generally occurring a few months before a company formally acknowledges its intention to list. This stage involves filing an S-1 with the SEC, which results in increased public scrutiny.

A Discord representative noted their current priority is enhancing user experience and building a sustainable business model.

The platform was founded in 2015 after Hammer & Chisel's MOBA game, Fates Forever, did not succeed commercially.

By 2021, Discord had amassed over 350 million users, and reports from late 2025 show over 200 million monthly active users. Collectively, these users spend about 1.9 billion hours on gaming activities every month.

Discord has not only built a large user base but also attracted substantial financial interest and investment.

The company managed to raise $100 million in 2020, securing a valuation of $7 billion. By the next year, it was entertaining acquisition offers, including one from Microsoft valuing Discord at $10 billion. Microsoft reportedly even offered $12 billion, but Discord opted to pursue a public offering.

In the same year, a financing round led by Dragoneer Investment Group raised $500 million, valuing Discord then at $15 billion.

Eric Bellomo, an analyst with PitchBook, told Bloomberg that while the prior valuation seems ambitious, the company might not achieve a similar figure once public.

In 2025, Discord underwent a leadership change as CEO and co-founder Jason Citron stepped down, with Humam Sakhnini, former president of King and vice chair at Activision Blizzard, taking his place.

Sakhnini, alongside leaders from Twitch, Reddit, and Steam, has been called to testify before Congress about the "radicalization of online forum users." Additionally, in October 2025, Discord revealed a breach affecting 70,000 users due to an issue within its customer service department.