Reddit is offering its users a chance to buy a piece of the company before its impending debut on the stock market. They’re not all racing to sign up.
In public Reddit forums, private chat rooms, and interviews with WIRED, several moderators and power users—who on Thursday learned they would get the rare chance to buy IPO shares at the same price as institutional investors—say they have little interest in sinking money into the company. Although the opportunity is being extended to those who’ve already invested time in Reddit, such as longtime commenters and volunteer moderators who’ve put in countless unpaid hours, even these users are skeptical about the company’s prospects. The nearly 19-year-old business has never made a profit and lost $91 million last year.
“Reddit has a very rocky history,” says Alex Cook, a volunteer moderator (or “mod” in the community’s lingo) for several gaming subreddits. “I see it as a very risky investment at best.”
Other users disparaged the offer in private chat rooms for mods. “Reddit already fucks us over enough, now they want us to pay for it as well,” one wrote. Another joked: “They’re using my data and work on reddit to sell me back to me through an IPO!!! Look Ma, I’m gonna be rich!!!!”
The cold response from some Reddit users could undermine a long-held ambition of Reddit CEO and cofounder Steve Huffman, who has said he’d like to see contributors to the unique community become owners. It also could temper prices when the RDDT ticker debuts on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as next month, generating less cash for Reddit and the investors who have put in $1.2 billion over the past decade. (Advance Publications, the parent company of WIRED owner Condé Nast, is Reddit’s largest shareholder.)
Reddit has more than 73 million daily users, so some may be more open to investing—or may change their views in the coming weeks. “Honestly they have been gunning hard for every ad dollar they can get,” one user wrote on Reddit. “Whatever happens, I’m just very excited to be coming along for the ride.” But the initial skeptical reactions from some highlight the volatile relationship between the company and its users who, although attached to the online communities that the social platform hosts, sometimes disdain its decisions on policing content, generating revenue, and launching new features.
Some users are still angry over the company’s decision last year to begin charging for access to its API, an interface used by software developers to draw on user posts and other Reddit content. The fees led to several popular independent Reddit mobile apps shutting down, and protesting users temporarily closed some forums on the service for weeks in a failed effort to pressure the company into reversing course.
IPO shares won’t soothe lingering frustration, says a user who goes by Rat and volunteers as a mod for the r/StardewValley video game community. “I guess this could be their attempt at the ‘pizza party,’” Rat says, referring to a conciliatory gesture commonly offered to children.
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