Thousands of moderators overseeing the site’s subreddits are on strike. It’s a wrinkle in Reddit’s plan to go public, and a sign that plan is premature, columnist Anita Ramaswamy writes.
Still, with a chunk of Reddit shut down, there’s no initial public offering. So if Huffman really wants to go public, he will need to find a way to align moderators and investors. One option would be to pay mods, or – if they don’t want to become de-facto employees – reward them in other ways. For example, he has pledged to develop new tools to replace the beloved apps. Either path involves higher costs, and a more tortuous path to profitability.
In short, the mods have shown that Reddit needs a business-model tweak. And potential investors will want to see it in action before shelling out for the shares, which makes a rushed IPO seem unwise. The self-branded “front page of the internet” has been waiting to IPO since 2021; it may have to moderate its expectations again.
Gotta love it.
Honestly this is the thing that matters the most. He can not listen all he wants, but if he won’t, then fuck him and his IPO.