Reddit users are commenting on the social media platform’s plans to go public. Some aren’t so excited.
“Reddit IPO: to the centre of the earth’s core,” wrote one user, in stark opposition to “going to the moon.”
The company synonymous with retail traders involved in the GameStop (GME) frenzy, recently announced it filed confidential paperwork with the SEC for an initial public offering.
“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined,” read a company blogpost. “The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”
One member of Reddit’s popular forum WallStreetBets asked if users were buying the IPO. “Probably not, a fair number of recent IPOs have been hot for the first day(s) of trading then crater and crab,” wrote alexmcg87.
Some members are concerned over possible changes to Reddit becomes a public company.
“…They will inject censorship and their own biases into the platform. Within a few months many edgy but popular subs will be dead. Within a year it will be a boring, vanilla platform with 10x the ads..,” wrote chiefoogabooga.
WallStreetBets members had expressed concerns on how the 16-year-old platform would change when reports of an IPO first surfaced earlier this year.
“It will be the end of Reddit,” wrote latestagecapitalist back in September. “Reddit only has one resource to harvest — the users — almost anything they do to get more revenue will piss the user base off more — every year they need to increase revenue now.”
Reddit became a household name when GameStop shares surged in January as WallStreetBets users and other retail traders piled on the stock.
During congressional hearings on GameStop (GME) in March, Reddit CEO Steven Huffman defended the social platform’s practice which allows members to use aliases without disclosing their identities.
“Reddit…doesn’t require people to reveal their full identity for the platform,” said Huffman in response to a question about authentication from Representative Josh Gottheimer (D) of New Jersey.
Reddit had 52 million daily active users as of August of this year. It raised some $700 million in its latest round of funding. Some of its most notable backers include Tencent, Fidelity Investments and Sequoia Capital.
Ines is a markets reporter covering stocks from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre