Topline
Reddit priced its initial public offering at $34 a share, which is on the high end of its targeted range and gives the company a value of about $6.4 billion, according to a press release.
Reddit is set to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker “RDDT.”
Key Facts
The valuation of $6.4 billion is lower than the $10 billion Reddit was valued at after a round of funding in 2021, according to the company—though setting the price at the high end of its range is perceived as a positive sign.
Reddit is set to debut Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “RDDT” and the company said in a filing Tuesday it would offer 22 million shares of its Class A common stock at an expected IPO price per share between $31 and $34.
About 15 million of the shares sold in the offering were from Reddit, and existing shareholders sold the other nearly 7 million.
About 8% of shares were set aside for “eligible Reddit users and moderators, certain members of our board of directors; and friends and family members of certain of our employees and directors,” according to Tuesday’s filing.
Big Number
$748 million. That’s how much the sale of 22 million shares at $34 per share raised, according to multiple reports.
Key Background
Reddit originally planned to go public in 2021—the year it received its $10 billion valuation—but that plan was shelved after Huffman said it was “not the best market to be doing that.” Rumors of a Reddit IPO continued to circulate, but the company’s efforts stalled amid a shaky IPO market after 2021. In January, Reuters reported Reddit was eying an IPO in March, and the company filed near the end of February. Reddit reported $804 million in revenue last year, which was an increase from its $666 million the previous year, but reported a net loss of $90.8 million, which was a smaller loss than the previous year. Huffman founded Reddit in 2005 with Alexis Ohanian and it was bought by Conde Nast in 2006 for $20 million. In 2011, it became an independent company again, though Advance Magazine Publishers remained its majority shareholder.
Surprising Fact
When Reddit opens for trading Thursday, it will be the first social media platform with a public listing since Pinterest went public in 2019.
Further Reading
CORRECTION (3/20): This article has been updated to note Steve Huffman owns a 3.3% stake in Reddit.
