Reddit, the social media platform and online discussion site known as the “front page of the internet,” filed paperwork on Thursday for its highly anticipated initial public offering. The proposed IPO includes an unconventional twist: Reddit says it plans to reserve some shares for its most loyal and active users to purchase at the IPO price. Typically, IPO share allocations are restricted to large institutional investors and investment banks. However, Reddit seeks to give some ownership rights to the users that have built many of the platform’s highly engaged communities and fueled its growth.
“Our users have a deep sense of ownership over the communities they create on Reddit. We want this sense of ownership to be reflected in real ownership—ffor our users to be our owners,” said Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman in a letter included with Thursday’s S-1 filing. He went on to say that becoming a publicly traded company helps make this direct retail investor ownership possible.
Reddit’s IPO filing comes as the company seeks to expand its business model and become profitable. Currently, the majority of Reddit’s over $800 million in annual revenue comes from advertising. However, the company outlined plans to also boost commerce and transactions within the Reddit ecosystem. Additionally, Reddit recently announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud, which includes providing Google access to Reddit data to help train its AI models.
According to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reddit plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker symbol “RDDT.” The company did not disclose the number of shares it intends to sell or the expected pricing range per share. Reddit reported having over 52 million daily active users last year.
The company’s largest shareholders include media conglomerate Advance Publications, owner of Reddit’s former parent company, Condé Nast, which holds a 30.1% stake. Chinese technology company Tencent owns 11% of Reddit.
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