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Reddit users are reacting deeply to the company’s announcement that it plans to sell its shares to the public.
“The beginning of the end,” “It was good while it lasted,” and “They ruined it” are just some of the comments made by Redditors since Thursday’s announcement.
The company said its plans are “exciting” and offer business opportunities for growth.
But many users are concerned that the move will fundamentally change the website.
Founded about 20 years ago, Reddit is an online forum where users can post questions and comment on topics of interest.
In December 2023, it had an average of more than 76 million visitors each day. I was drawn to features such as the “Ask Me Anything” thread, where participants ranging from anonymous ordinary people to former U.S. President Barack Obama regularly ask questions.
Some feel that the initial public offering (IPO) filed with U.S. regulators will change the ethos of the site.
“Our most important customers [users] Dear shareholders, the product is always [suffers]” said one person.
“It’s not, ‘How can we improve this product?’ It’s, ‘What can we do this quarter to generate additional revenue points?'”
history of protests
This isn’t the first time Reddit’s most vocal users have expressed their displeasure with the platform.
However, this proved to be short-lived, and Reddit’s plan ultimately proved financially profitable. That’s because it signed a deal with Google reportedly worth $60 million (£47 million) to allow the tech giant to use Reddit posts to train its artificial intelligence tools.
The filing does not say how much money the company hopes to raise by listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
But it does offer a glimpse into the company’s business, including its struggle to turn its online popularity into profit.
It was valued at about $10 billion in a 2021 private funding round.
However, the company has posted losses every year since its inception, with losses of more than $90 million last year.
Reddit said in its filing that it didn’t start trying to become truly profitable until 2018. He reported revenue of $804 million last year, an increase of more than 20% from 2022.
Advertisements accounted for almost all of the revenue, but in a memo to potential investors, CEO Steve Huffman said the platform would be a place for commerce and license its content to AI companies. He said he is excited about the opportunity.
“I’ve never been more excited about Reddit’s future than right now,” Huffman wrote. “We have many opportunities to grow both our platform and our business, the latter through advertising, monetizing commerce on our platform and licensing our data.”
Reddit’s IPO is the first by a social media company since Pinterest in 2019.
This comes as U.S. financial markets are regularly hitting new highs, buoyed by economic optimism and a new wave of growth driven by artificial intelligence.
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