Just for context, how an IPO works is that Reddit decides it wants to go public and sell some of stock to institutional investors. So Reddit contacts an investment bank like Goldman Sachs. Goldman...
Just for context, how an IPO works is that Reddit decides it wants to go public and sell some of stock to institutional investors. So Reddit contacts an investment bank like Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs helps Reddit both court institutional investors to sell to, and determine the price. There's technically a whole bunch of other things, like you want "bedrock investors" from your initial IPO group, blah blah. This is most definitely not the public - not only do you need to be considered an "institutional investor" legally by the SEC, but you need to big enough for an investment bank to invite you in!
Then Reddit sells the block of shares to the institutional investors (hedge funds, pension funds, that kind of thing). THEN the public can start trading shares (although insiders like employees usually have a 6 month lockup on their shares).
Which means that the relationship between how the stock moves after IPO is a bit complicated. In some sense, if it "moons", that means that the company got ripped off by the original IPO investors, since they got an apparent bargain, and vice versa if it dips. In practice, I think most companies would like for the stock to not move all that much after IPO, and to then steadily grow afterwards.
That's quite a bit less than the original reports. I thought the previous estimates were more in the area of $10-15B. In any case, doesn't really matter to me. It doesn't affect me in any way.
That's quite a bit less than the original reports. I thought the previous estimates were more in the area of $10-15B. In any case, doesn't really matter to me. It doesn't affect me in any way.
Lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned. If I'm forced to pick between reddit (globally seachable) vs. discord (not globally seachable), ill hold my nose and use reddit. I'm speaking wrt a...
Lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned. If I'm forced to pick between reddit (globally seachable) vs. discord (not globally seachable), ill hold my nose and use reddit. I'm speaking wrt a place where critical mass of people congregate to talk about niche things
I don't use discord for that purpose myself (I use discord to talk the group of friends I play games online with, that's about it). I can see how the lack of searchability is a concern to people...
I don't use discord for that purpose myself (I use discord to talk the group of friends I play games online with, that's about it).
I can see how the lack of searchability is a concern to people looking for it to fill that role, though. I can't speak to that, personally.
From my end though, discord hasn't gone enshittification yet - they're subscription based. That is an infinitely preferable approach to monetization in the modern age, to me at least. That's why I hope Reddit burns. They went full on enshittify, and I think that to be an abhorrent business strategy. I want it to get punished fiscally enough that it stops being the default approach to anything where the userbase is the draw. It's inherently deceptive.
Edit: I also wish more people had the stones to do the hard thing, and stop using services when they pull that shit. I don't use reddit anymore. But clearly I'm in the tiny minority.
Edit2: I pay for Kagi, I pay for Discord. I don't mind paying for a service. But that isn't how to make "fuck you" money in the 1/1000000 chance your site is the one that works, so that just remains the default. I'm also tired of that being the goal. Just make a service that people can pay for and will support your company well. Not so the money asshats can make billions.
I think that the chain of events is showing us that reddit has sold out their userbase in the persuit of a higher valuation. I am still using the website most days, and the userbase has changed...
Exemplary
They went full on enshittify, and I think that to be an abhorrent business strategy.
I think that the chain of events is showing us that reddit has sold out their userbase in the persuit of a higher valuation. I am still using the website most days, and the userbase has changed drastically since the API lockdown happened. The way people are talking to one another has changed, the culture that was there before has changed. Every now and again I see users referring to reddit as "this app". Responses are frequently becoming GIF reactions in popular threads now.
It's hard for me to watch, and some days it feels like I am torturing myself by watching it. Reddit is still a place that people go to when they need help, looking for knowledgeable people and resources. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few years ago, and without the resources I found on reddit I would have struggled for months longer than I did trying to get help. But now people aren't able to even post questions with screenshots the way they were 2 years ago because they are only on a phone. I went from a majority of the time reading a thread and someone more knowledgeable than me had already responded with well sourced answers, to now sometimes feeling like I'm the only adult in the room. And to add insult to injury, when you google search a topic, an old reddit thread is still the most likely place to find coherent and knowledgeable discussion that answers your questions, but those posts are not being created any more.
I don't personally think they have a plan, or a care for what happens post IPO. It will become just another dopamine releasing app that people go to in order to waste their time.
I'd liken it to a large prison holding those niche communities hostage for advertising profits, except the prison guards at Shawshank were more ethical. But then again, that's pretty much the...
I'd liken it to a large prison holding those niche communities hostage for advertising profits, except the prison guards at Shawshank were more ethical. But then again, that's pretty much the entire internet today, so I guess that fight is over. The dead internet theory wins.
Just for context, how an IPO works is that Reddit decides it wants to go public and sell some of stock to institutional investors. So Reddit contacts an investment bank like Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs helps Reddit both court institutional investors to sell to, and determine the price. There's technically a whole bunch of other things, like you want "bedrock investors" from your initial IPO group, blah blah. This is most definitely not the public - not only do you need to be considered an "institutional investor" legally by the SEC, but you need to big enough for an investment bank to invite you in!
Then Reddit sells the block of shares to the institutional investors (hedge funds, pension funds, that kind of thing). THEN the public can start trading shares (although insiders like employees usually have a 6 month lockup on their shares).
Which means that the relationship between how the stock moves after IPO is a bit complicated. In some sense, if it "moons", that means that the company got ripped off by the original IPO investors, since they got an apparent bargain, and vice versa if it dips. In practice, I think most companies would like for the stock to not move all that much after IPO, and to then steadily grow afterwards.
So about what Fidelity estimated they were worth after downgrading their investment last year.
That's quite a bit less than the original reports. I thought the previous estimates were more in the area of $10-15B. In any case, doesn't really matter to me. It doesn't affect me in any way.
Mirror, for those hit by the paywall:
https://archive.is/Gc8ba
Once again, I hope they burn.
Lesser of two evils as far as I'm concerned. If I'm forced to pick between reddit (globally seachable) vs. discord (not globally seachable), ill hold my nose and use reddit. I'm speaking wrt a place where critical mass of people congregate to talk about niche things
I don't use discord for that purpose myself (I use discord to talk the group of friends I play games online with, that's about it).
I can see how the lack of searchability is a concern to people looking for it to fill that role, though. I can't speak to that, personally.
From my end though, discord hasn't gone enshittification yet - they're subscription based. That is an infinitely preferable approach to monetization in the modern age, to me at least. That's why I hope Reddit burns. They went full on enshittify, and I think that to be an abhorrent business strategy. I want it to get punished fiscally enough that it stops being the default approach to anything where the userbase is the draw. It's inherently deceptive.
Edit: I also wish more people had the stones to do the hard thing, and stop using services when they pull that shit. I don't use reddit anymore. But clearly I'm in the tiny minority.
Edit2: I pay for Kagi, I pay for Discord. I don't mind paying for a service. But that isn't how to make "fuck you" money in the 1/1000000 chance your site is the one that works, so that just remains the default. I'm also tired of that being the goal. Just make a service that people can pay for and will support your company well. Not so the money asshats can make billions.
I think that the chain of events is showing us that reddit has sold out their userbase in the persuit of a higher valuation. I am still using the website most days, and the userbase has changed drastically since the API lockdown happened. The way people are talking to one another has changed, the culture that was there before has changed. Every now and again I see users referring to reddit as "this app". Responses are frequently becoming GIF reactions in popular threads now.
It's hard for me to watch, and some days it feels like I am torturing myself by watching it. Reddit is still a place that people go to when they need help, looking for knowledgeable people and resources. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few years ago, and without the resources I found on reddit I would have struggled for months longer than I did trying to get help. But now people aren't able to even post questions with screenshots the way they were 2 years ago because they are only on a phone. I went from a majority of the time reading a thread and someone more knowledgeable than me had already responded with well sourced answers, to now sometimes feeling like I'm the only adult in the room. And to add insult to injury, when you google search a topic, an old reddit thread is still the most likely place to find coherent and knowledgeable discussion that answers your questions, but those posts are not being created any more.
I don't personally think they have a plan, or a care for what happens post IPO. It will become just another dopamine releasing app that people go to in order to waste their time.
Well said.
I'd liken it to a large prison holding those niche communities hostage for advertising profits, except the prison guards at Shawshank were more ethical. But then again, that's pretty much the entire internet today, so I guess that fight is over. The dead internet theory wins.
😏
Here comes the pump-and-dump!
Reddit IPOs and the next day, WSB is banned.
I’m surprised the entire discussion hasn’t been
in an endless loop of variants.