Reddit Inc on Thursday told US stock regulators that it plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “RDDT.”
Reddit did not provide details regarding the number or price of shares nor when the initial public offering (IPO) would occur.
This would be the first stock market debut of an online social network since Pinterest Inc went public in 2019.
Photo: Reuters
Founded in 2005, the platform is home to more than 100,000 online communities devoted to a sweeping range of topics and was visited by an average of 76 million people daily in December last year, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
“They come to Reddit to participate in a vibrant community, a constantly evolving place where anyone, anywhere, can connect with like-minded people and dive into any topic,” cofounder and CEO Steve Huffman said in the letter.
Communities on the platform are referred to as “subreddits,” and one devoted to music star Taylor Swift eclipsed 1 million members last year, the filing said.
Reddit is known for “Ask Me Anything” sessions during which influential people ranging from tech titans and athletes to celebrities and politicians field questions from users.
Like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, Reddit’s business model is based on advertising; but despite its popularity, the platform has never managed to turn a profit.
Reddit had a net loss of US$90.8 million last year on revenue of US$804 million, the filing said.
It was an improvement from the US$158.5 million it lost the previous year when it posted revenue of US$666 million.
Plans for monetization include licensing data for training large language models (LLMs) that power artificial intelligence (AI), the filing said.
“Reddit’s vast and unmatched archive of real, timely and relevant human conversation on literally any topic is an invaluable dataset for a variety of purposes, including search, AI training, and research,” Huffman wrote.
Publishing giant Conde Nast bought Reddit in late 2006 and later spun it off into an independent subsidiary.
The company is now working on ways for users to earn money on the platform.
“Today, subreddits are mostly communities for content and conversation, and they will evolve into places where Redditors can generate revenue for themselves,” Huffman said.
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