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Reddit To Offer Shares In IPO To 75,000 of Its Most Active Users (marketwatch.com) 38

According to the Wall Street Journal (paywalled), Reddit plans to sell a chunk of its IPO shares to 75,000 of its most loyal users. Reuters reports: It aims to reserve an as-yet-undetermined number of shares for 75,000 of its most prolific so-called redditors when it goes public next month, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The users will have the opportunity to buy Reddit shares at its initial public offering (IPO) price before the stock starts trading, a privilege normally reserved only for big investors, the report said. Reddit's IPO, which has been in the works for more than three years now, would be the first from a major social media company since Pinterest's debut in 2019.
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Reddit To Offer Shares In IPO To 75,000 of Its Most Active Users

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  • Good move (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:14PM (#64258204)

    It's great when companies show loyalty, especially companies based really around teh values of users who contribute to the platform.

    I doubt I qualify but the people who built up the platform to what it is, deserve reward.

    • by Anonymous Coward
      Really? Do you think so?

      You can also look at it as a way to guarantee the very much needed news of a successful IPO to inflate the market value at a time where money is still quite expensive to get.
      In case you forgot... creating expectations in the stock market is important to make (some) people rich.
    • Re:Good move (Score:5, Interesting)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:56PM (#64258292)
      I have a much more pessimistic view of this. I think that interest from investors is lackluster or the market doesn't think the shares will hold their value after the IPO. This seems like a good way to find some people with less savvy who collectively could purchase enough shares to let their current owners get their payday before the stock tanks in the following months. Users could buy stock on their own anyway, but most wouldn't think to so. Tell a few people about a special offer reserved just for them because they're special and suddenly there's a lot more interest. Create enough envy and later the program can be expanded so even more suck^H^H^H^Husers will want to buy shares and it doesn't matter if there isn't as much investor demand.
      • Unfortunately, you're probably right, this isn't altruism but is just plain ol capitalism. This is a PR coup designed to deliver a return on the investment. Offer 75k people the equivalent of maybe, 10k in stock, and for 750k you can possibly get the successor to Roaring Kitty to pump your STONK to the MOON!
      • This seems like a good way to find some people with less savvy who collectively could purchase enough shares to let their current owners get their payday

        That's quite a take but no way are 75k Redditors going to be buying even 1/10 what a single hedge fund will buy.

        Literally no-one cares about this offering outside of Reddit, nor will it move the stock price one iota (for good or bad).

        It's purely a gift.

    • Really? You're so happy and proud that you're *checks notes* allowed to buy shares?

      • The key is getting to buy at the IPO price, not the market price. That is usually a license to print money - except of course when it isn't, i.e. the IPO price was set too high.
        • The key is getting to buy at the IPO price, not the market price. That is usually a license to print money - except of course when it isn't, i.e. the IPO price was set too high.

          It really isn't. IPOs are just a pure gamble as to whether you think the share price is too low or high for the given value of a company. The only thing that sets it apart from any other share purchase is that you expect a day 1 correction. They do drop just as much as they go up, and in the 150 IPOs last year about half of them would have netted you a loss the day after.

          It's a pure gamble as to whether you think a market analyst has valued something too low or too high. If you want that you can get the sam

  • most prolific users? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Turkinolith ( 7180598 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:15PM (#64258210)
    So... the accounts shilling their onlyfans on hundreds of various subreddits a day.
  • by zephvark ( 1812804 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:21PM (#64258218)

    It looks like site traffic has been way down since the great "no third-party tools" debacle. Maybe I'm wrong on that, and it's just that posts have gotten really sluggish.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      It looks like site traffic has been way down

      I'm sure you have numbers to back that up. Care to share them? Because they seem at odds with the Reddit I'm seeing which has seen literally no change in any of the >100 subreddits I follow. Do you only look at subs talking about 3rd party tools? No doubt they are down.

      The best part about looking this up is that you can read virtually endless stories of reddit use being down, and reddit dying, ... dating back many years. Literally every year there's some scandal that will kill reddit, and literally every

  • by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:27PM (#64258232) Homepage

    "Mom, Dad, can I have some money to buy shares of Reddit?"

  • I'd probably make that list. Unfortunately, you get banned from some subs for calling out progressive stupidity, from other subs for calling out libertarian right wing stupidity, and yet other subs for reporting blatent spam bots.

    Then again, they're most active users are all repost accounts for /r/pics and the like, or questionnaire accounts posting as real content on places like /r/videogames where low-activity, three year olds accounts post a picture of an N64 controller and say "best ever?".

    The only subs

    • > The only subs that seem to have any substance, that are also not brigated with false content,
      > or smaller hobby subs and municipal subs.

      /r/Cats/
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Cheer up. It's almost impossible for you to get banned from /.

  • by awwshit ( 6214476 ) on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @06:04PM (#64258314)

    They are hoping someone will decide to be a diamond hands ape and hodl reddit shares, telling everyone to hodl to the moon. So the execs can cash out at the peak and leave redditors as bag holders.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    If there's one person to blame, it's Kevin Rose. If that fucker hadn't started Digg because he believed in "DEMOCRACY VOTING" because his dumb submissions never were selected, all fans of him on The Screensavers and Tech TV. Out of Digg you got Reddit who tried to return to a BBS style forum. All of it, garage. /. still is superior. Fuck the IPO

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