Big things are happening over at Reddit. The social media site had revealed its intentions to go public, filing the proposition with the SEC. This comes amid rapid growth for the company, with a huge increase in staff and millions of additional funding.
The news was spotted by Variety, with Reddit revealing the IPO filing yesterday. The site has also revealed that is it worth an estimated $10 billion - due in part to a $700 million investment back in August - with aims to expand from 700 to 1,400 employees.
This is an ironic twist of fate, considering Reddit's run-ins with the SEC earlier this year. Redditors made international news when they banded together to purchase stocks in Gamestop, raising the price to eyewatering levels. This came as a massive disappointment to Wall Street, which was largely banking on the retailer's collapse (but in fairness, disappointing Wall Street was pretty much the main objective).
The social media giant refused to take any action against the infamous subreddit where the plan originated, r/wallstreetbets, because as much as shareholders didn't like it, Redditors weren't actually breaching any terms of service agreements. Instead, many websites used to purchase stocks banned users from investing in Gamestop, AMC, and others that were targetted by users. Because, you know, free market and all that.
However, if Reddit is going to be propelled into the public eye even further, it will want to avoid any more scandals - at least ones that more traditional investors don't like. Most recently, the Halo subreddit had to be put in lockdown right around Infinite's release, as a result of the toxicity from users. According to a moderator, there were instances of doxxing and death threats. Considering r/halo is one million members strong, and is dedicated to an astronomically popular game series, this is very much the sort of news Reddit would want to avoid should it go public.