Reddit's cofounder said that at first the company felt like 'a homework assignment that got out of hand' rather than a business
www.businessinsider.com
Reddit's cofounder Steve Huffman said in its early days he filled up most of the site with content using different accounts until it got more users.

Now the social media platform is aiming for an IPO in the first quarter of 2024 with a valuation of $15 billion, and has been in talks with potential investors like Goldman Sachs and and Morgan Stanley, per Bloomberg.

    • roguetrick@kbin.social
      352·
      1 year ago

      I get it, but like I said, that’s ephemeral. Compare that to say Meta or alphabet with YouTube. They have distinct advantages in serving their content that prevents them from completely losing out. Then you’ve got Reddit, who pays hosts that could decide themselves to spin up a competing service pretty quickly and already isn’t profitable due to those harsh hosting costs and isn’t particularly stand out in its advertising business compared to those two.

      • JillyB@beehaw.org
        2·
        1 year ago

        Well YouTube is worth far more than even this valuation, so that tracks. There have been many competing services (like the one we’re on, and Voat) but none of them have put a dent in Reddit’s ability to serve ads to a huge number of eyeballs. I wouldn’t invest in it but to suggest it’s valueless because they don’t own their servers is a stretch.

      • Aux@lemmy.world
        212·
        1 year ago

        Everything is ephemeral. Money is ephemeral, countries are ephemeral, etc. It’s just we as a society decided that things have value. That’s it.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
          41·
          1 year ago

          Money and countries aren’t “ephemeral”, whatever you mean by that. Countries are large collections of individuals and groups united by common culture, language, geography, economies, religion, etc. They’re as real as your family or friends group is, because they’re based on voluntary association.

          Money is “real” because governments accept it for payment of taxes. Taxes are not optional, thus businesses find it convenient to ask for payment in local currency. This creates a common medium of exchange as long as people have faith that the current government will survive.

          So no, they don’t just have value because “we decided” they do. We can’t change our minds tomorrow and shift all the countries and money around because they are based on reality.