Reddit, for the first time, is going public as the social media app for the intellectual prepares for IPO. They’ve also hired Drew Vollero as its first Chief Financial Officer. [Reddit Vollero IPOIsaac YorkTimes]
Key Takes:
- Reddit is going public with an IPO and hired Drew Vollero as its first CFO
- Vollero has experience in financial services
- Reddit has become a full social media platform with over 52 million daily users
- The platform has addressed issues of hate speech and censorship
- Reddit recently acquired Dubsmash and secured a $250 million investment to expand
- CEO Steve Huffman wants to make Reddit easier to use
As first reported by Mike Isaac in The New York Times, Reddit announced on March 4th, 2021, that the company is going public with the IPO, and in the meanwhile, the company has appointed Drew Vollero as their first-ever Chief Financial Officer, to take care of the financials and legal issues with its public offering and the stock.
Drew Vallero does have some experience in the field. Previously, the 55-year-old was handling the financials at Allied Universal, Mattel, and Snap, making him a strong candidate for the upcoming IPO. Specifically, the new CFO will be handling audit and accounting functions along with Reddit’s IPO and the stock going public.
“Is Reddit going public? We’re thinking about it. We’re working toward that moment,” said the CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman.
Reddit going public was inevitable. When the social media application first came, no one thought that the platform will go that big. But, it is seen that more and more intellectuals are using Reddit as their daily mainstream social media replacement. More than 52 million users visit Reddit every day, meaning that the company would now be more than ready to go public and list its stock for trading.
At first, Reddit was another online forum where the public would gather, and make small communities regarding video games, etc., but the platform has now transformed into a full social media platform, with advanced features such as communities, subreddits, and messaging. What’s different about Reddit is free speech, but that comes at a price. Recently, the platform was heavily criticized for its lenient policies on hate speech and censorship.
To address these issues and develop a business plan for the company’s future in product development, Huffman came back in 2015 and started working on issues of digital abuse and hate speech on Reddit. As Huffman continued, Reddit’s policies changed and are now stricter than before.
The social media company going public is big news. Before its Initial Public Offering (IPO), the company had been upping the number of higher ranks as it hired a head of security in recent months of 2021. Now that the company has gotten bigger, it expanded its footprint even more by acquiring Dubsmash, a TikTok-like application.
In February 2021, Reddit secured a whopping new investment of $250 million, valuing the company at $6 billion following the round. The funding would be used to expand their team of senior management and make the company more mainstream. Mr. Huffman, the CEO, said that the fresh capital will be used to develop more products and scale Reddit’s operations.
Other than that, Huffman wants to make Reddit easier to use. One of the reasons most folks prefer using Facebook and Instagram over Reddit is their convenience. Not that Reddit has a bad design at all, but at first, it is hard to get used to.
“Reddit can be hard to get at first…It takes a little time. We want to shorten that time,” said Mr. Huffman.
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