Reddit faces new reality after cashing in on its IPO
In an interview on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor ahead of Reddit’s market debut on Thursday, chief executive Steve Huffman acknowledged that the mischievous retail investors that congregate on the social media platform might deliberately drive down its share price.
“It’s a free market!” he said. For Reddit, as for Huffman, the bet on a public offering for a site he described as a “fun and special, but sometimes crazy place” has appeared to pay off.
Shares of the social media company soared on its Big Board debut under the ticker RDDT, closing at $50.44, or 48 percent above its IPO price. This brought its fully diluted market capitalization to $9.5 billion, close to where the company was last valued privately at $10 billion in 2021.