Reddit is the last of an earlier generation of social media companies to aim for the stock market, after Facebook’s high-profile offering in 2012, Twitter’s in 2013 and Snap’s in 2017. In the years since, the social media industry has changed, facing scrutiny for misinformation, hate speech and other effects. Some of the companies have shifted directions; Facebook was renamed Meta, and Twitter was bought by Elon Musk, who took the company private in 2022 and renamed it X.
Reddit’s move is also highly anticipated after a lull in initial public offerings. Just 108 companies went public in the United States last year, roughly a quarter of the number that debuted in 2021, according to data compiled by Renaissance Capital. Some of the biggest tech offerings last year were Arm, a chip designer, and Instacart, a grocery delivery company.
“We are going public to advance our mission and become a stronger company,” Steve Huffman, Reddit’s chief executive, said in a founder’s letter included in the prospectus. “We hope going public will provide meaningful benefits to our community as well. Our users have a deep sense of ownership over the communities they create on Reddit.”
Mr. Huffman added that the company wanted “this sense of ownership to be reflected in real ownership — for our users to be our owners” and that “becoming a public company makes this possible.” Reddit said it would reserve a chunk of its shares at the I.P.O. price for 75,000 of the company’s most prolific users if they wished to purchase them.
In its prospectus, Reddit said revenue in 2023 was $804 million, up about 21 percent from $666 million a year earlier. The company lost $90 million in 2023, compared with a $158 million loss the year before, according to the prospectus.
Kaynak: briturkish.com
