Reddit is planning to launch an initial public offering in March, Reuters reported Thursday.
The social media platform has detailed plans put together and is set to go ahead with a public listing, which it has been eyeing for more than three years, the outlet said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The San Francisco-based company filed confidential IPO plans in 2021 but never went forward with the offering. It has not yet filed any updated plans with Securities and Exchange Commission, which would be the first formal step toward selling stock to the public.
Reuters said that it plans to make its public filing in late February and complete the IPO by the end of March, citing two sources.
Reddit was valued at about $10 billion in a 2021 funding round, according to the outlet, and would sell about 10% of its shares to the public.
The last social media company to IPO was Pinterest in 2019. Elon Musk took what was then Twitter private when he purchased it in October 2022. Facebook, which also owns Instagram, trades as Meta Platforms. Snap and a host of smaller platforms, including dating sites like Match and Bumble, are also publicly traded.
Donald Trump’s money-losing Truth Social has been expected to combine with Digital World Aquisition Corp. for several years but the deal has not yet gone through.
Reddit was launched in 2005 and is known for its “subreddits,” or subject-themed threads of conversation among users, who get to vote “up” or “down” on posts. The company’s revenue comes mainly from advertising, but it also offers a premium subscription service for $5.99 per month. It has yet to turn a profit, Reuters reported.
Reddit expected to generate slightly over $800 million in advertising revenue in 2023, up more than 20% from 2022, according to The Information. While that growth rate topped rivals like Snap and Pinterest, it fell short of the $1 billion in ad revenue the company was targeting, the report said.