Instant Reaction: Reddit Starts Trading on NYSE

This is breaking you loose from the Bloomberg. 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:07.680 Hey, everybody, I just want to do a quick check 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.360 on shares of Reddit. They are open, they are trading, 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.000 and the stock is app just shy of sixty percent 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.600 at its highs today was trading above almost fifty eight 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.239 dollars this share, So a seventy percent pop on this 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:20.239 first day of trading. 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:21.919 It's settled in or it's not settling in. 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.000 We still have some ways to go, but right now 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:28.280 up about fifty nine percent, fifty four dollars and change 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.479 here if you will, so jumping after we know at 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.400 priced at the top of its marketed range. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:34.200 And this is coming day two. 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:36.959 We've had two big tech IPOs that have all come 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:38.840 out of the gate incredibly strong. 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:39.279 And we know. 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:45.160 Astera right, the semiconductor related company. It's also trading higher 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:46.440 in a second day of trade. 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.960 So that brings me to Amy or who covers IPOs 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.200 here at Bloomberg. She's in our studio right now. 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:52.200 Amy. 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:54.520 If you're if you're maybe one of the bankers or 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.320 perhaps working at Reddit, and you see a sixty percent 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.200 pop on day one of trading, how are you feeling? 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.360 I mean, it's good obviously if you're a shareholder, but 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:06.040 are you also thinking, wait, we could have raised more 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.559 than seven hundred million dollars in. 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:09.520 The IPO, so I just want to go back to 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.759 the marketing bid I have to say. So eight Reddit 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.600 is not raising all the money, so the money that 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.360 it will probably gets around five hundred and fifty million 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.199 or so because it's also some of the employees are selling, 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:23.640 but also this is the biggest marketing event, so they 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.959 don't really have to go out. So essentially, for a 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.160 lot of people there's been concerned about like, oh, there 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.360 is a generation of redditors, and then the younger people 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.839 do not know it because the younger people already into 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.840 TikTok and other things. But this is going to introduce 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.280 a lot more people. 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.160 To because of the IPO. 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:44.039 Because of the IPO, but going to bankers or just 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.080 issue is in general, so normally people will feel left 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.360 out right leaving money on the table. But we're in 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:53.600 a totally not normal IPO environment right now. So anything 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.880 really anything up and having a pop to investors is 0:01:57.920 --> 0:01:58.960 great for every Well that's. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:01:59.440 What I was wondering. 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:01.600 How much of it is, like, oh my god, there's 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.600 another IPO. Finally, versus Wow, I really like this company. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.280 Well it finally, it really depends on investors. And I 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.880 have to say the market is very concentrated in tech 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:16.320 at the moment, not on individuals like individual other sectors 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.440 like industrial healthcare, like, we haven't actually seen those rebounded 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.640 to the point where we've seen a whole slew of 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.600 IPOs in those sectors as well. So it's really up 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:29.720 to investors to decipher themselves whether they like it because 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.920 the momentum is there or because the fundamentals are there. 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.320 So at the end of the day, IPOs are buying 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.240 into growth, right, and growth is really about projection and 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.480 whether you actually believe in the company. So everyone has 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.360 different kind of viewpoint about that. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.120 Right, And I have to say that you throw AI 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:46.840 kind of in the AI play and the data like 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:48.360 that certainly makes it a little bit more of an 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:49.080 interesting story. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.240 Tim Hey, it certainly does. Man deep when you think 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.120 about comps for this company, what's a fair comp. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.839 Well, Snap, Pinterest, Meta, I said, you know the fact 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.280 that Meta is trading as such a premium to the 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:06.400 smaller social media players. I thought that was something. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.400 Was trading against a pinterest for example. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.480 So pinterest trades for example, at about four times ev 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.280 doo sales. Meta is close to eight times EV two sales, 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.600 and Reddit was priced right in the middle. They're thirty 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.600 four dollars equated to six times EV two sales. So 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.440 that's why I think the pop gets now it's closer too, Yeah, 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.560 dollars a share a little higher than that, Yeah, and 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.320 which is why you pay for growth, And I think 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.079 with Reddit accelerating growth in the past six months, it 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.280 just makes a strong case that they should be at 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:35.080 a premium multiple. 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.120 I just want to remind everybody who's watching and listening 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.840 around the Bloomberg universe that Reddit shares they are definitely 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.160 up in trading stocks up about almost fifty five percent 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.240 here in its first day of trade, trading above fifty 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.920 two dollars this year. It is the fourth largest this year. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.880 The biggest of those listings though, that we've seen so far, 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.240 was the amur Sports one that we had in January. 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.119 And I want to go back to you because there 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.200 you are in the heart of Silicon Valley. Reddit a 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.120 company well known in the valley around for a long time. 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.600 Has there been much buzz in conversations around this company, 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.000 like Wow, this could be like Reddit's time. I'm just 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:10.280 curious what the conversations, if they've even been happening. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:15.480 Yes, specifically, last night, Sequoia, which is one of the 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:18.520 biggest bench capital firms, held a really big AI event 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:22.000 called ai Assent, and they were talking about Reddit. 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:22.240 There. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.160 They had like one hundred CEOs and founders from the 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.160 biggest AI companies all in one room. But again they 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.440 went back to the point of the data licensing and 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.120 just like man Deep said, and man Deep, I'm paraphrasing, 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.680 but I think you would be happy that I'm quoting you. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.640 You know, Mandeep says, I bet you that Reddit will 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.640 go to the other LM builders, big and small and 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:45.800 do a deal. And I think that's the conversation that 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.200 a lot of the kind of tech world is having 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.480 out here, that Wow, Reddit's kind of got its story 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:52.560 straight and got it right, and if they can do 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:56.200 two hundred million with Google, they'll probably be able to 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.360 replicate that. And then the other part of it is 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.680 I'd just go back to like, Reddit is a part 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.080 of this town. You know, it was a y combinator 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.039 startup in two thousand and five. That's a you know, 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.640 very well known incubator here in the city. It's sold 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.160 in two thousand and six to Conde Nast, and it's 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.640 kind of had this kind of strange and long journey, 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:16.719 but it's still been a name in the world of 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.600 technology that we talked about long. Katie Greifeld should be here, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:21.880 she would back me up on this. But long before 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.680 Wall Street bets and bets and the memestock frenzy, we 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.000 did know about Reddit to some extent, right, So, while 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.280 I've been saying that the kind of global audience for 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.880 Reddit might not be there yet, it is well known 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.240 to those in the technology community at least. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:36.640 Yeah. 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.640 At the same time, ed, it is on a fully 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.120 diluted basis evaluation right now, just shy of ten billion 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.880 dollars on it, Yes, just shy, just shy. But in 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.360 terms of market cap right now about eight point two 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.160 billion dollars. Talk to me a little bit about the 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:55.960 what happened a few years ago when they raise money 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.520 at a ten billion dollar valuation, because we're still not 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.680 you know now, we're still just around that point two 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:03.480 or three years later. 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.679 So in twenty twenty one, in the last private round 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.200 that they did, they had a ten billion dollar valuation, 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.600 so they're not quite there yet. You know, the cat 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:20.200 table was probably quite complicated, and I guess that you 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.400 could ask yourself, well, are there people on that cat 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.920 table who are either in or out of the money? 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:26.920 But I think we talked about this a bit earlier 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.920 that if you think about the last three or four years, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:32.120 there are a number of companies that are now public 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.000 that chose to do down rounds, in other words, raise 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.960 money at a lower valuation than the valuation of their 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:43.039 previous round, and they did that to give themselves some upside, right. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.000 You know, imagine if Reddit had retained that value and 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.560 you know, we're now valuing it at five billion or 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.920 even higher fifteen billion. But Reddit didn't have to go 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.640 through that process. It's just the reality of the time 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.920 and place that you're in. And you know, Amy will 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.040 know the history of this, but you know, Reddit was 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:03.200 going to do this in twenty twenty one, and then 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:04.680 it was going to do it in twenty twenty two, 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:06.760 and we've kind of been waiting a long time. And 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.200 twenty twenty one was this like massive USIPO year, particularly 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.600 for tech, where they kind of missed the boat. So 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.720 there is a part of it that's just like confidence 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.760 in timing. But the valuation is comparable right in this 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.320 moment to where it was in that last private round. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.920 I have to say that, actually, it's very funny ed 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.120 you mentioned the last funding round of A Funny Guy, 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.360 because in the perspectives in cr for A Series E 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:35.720 and Series F where ten cent Contees and Sam Oltman 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:40.960 actually participated, we were thinking, like, yeah, for the price 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.480 range of thirty one dollars to thirty four dollars, like 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.280 they're going to make a loss because the average price 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.080 was like thirty seven or forty two dollars, So like 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.440 at fifty dollars right now, So they're all making money, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:54.960 even the people who participated in the last round at 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.520 a valuation of ten billion dollars. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.120 Pretty remarkable, right, it really is. 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.760 Okay, Mandy, if you're if you're doing ads sales for Reddit, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.480 how do you go out there and convince a large marketing, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:09.240 a large marketer to spend money with you versus with 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.520 meta platforms which can which would tell you, hey, we 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.560 know exactly who the next buyer of your product is 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:15.920 going to be. 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.760 Yeah. One of the trends that we are noticing with 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.080 lllms is the ad targeting will get better and better. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:26.120 And you've seen that in Meta's latest results. You said LLMS, yes, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:31.920 because you know what LMS give you is more persons, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.440 large angrid models, and that's what Meta has their own 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.200 large anglid model called LAMA. I mean, others are standardizing 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:44.040 on GPT and Gemini will probably show up in Apple. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.680 But the point being that you will see an expansion 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.880 in search because of LLLMS. So not only do you 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.679 ask a query, you can ask a follow up, and 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.800 when you ask a follow up, you give more information 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.319 to the channel you're asking the query, whether it's a 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.880 chat pot or Reddit or any Google search. And with 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.160 a follow up you have the proposition of showing even 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.560 more targeted AD. So Reddit has that engagement in terms 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:16.800 of the user base looking for user generated content where 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.640 you know all that is original to Reddit, and if 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.960 they can build a search platform, the ad targeting can 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.520 be huge, much better than any other platform. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.559 I'm just going to say, I'm curious as Reddit users 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.440 start to hear that, it just seems like if I 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.439 was a Reddit user, I'm not, but it seems like 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.640 it's a platform where they wouldn't love that. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.240 I think it's kind of their own little space that 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:36.840 they go into. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.880 So I wonder if there's pushback going forward, just to 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.760 reset everybody Reddit shares up in trading their now below 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.720 fifty dollars a share. So we've seen certainly a lot 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.360 of volume, a lot of activity. Stuck still up forty 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.600 five percent in its first day of trading. The Reddit 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.560 IPO so again forty nine and change with us at Ledlow, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.440 co host of Bloomberg Technology on Bloomberg TV, who spoke 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.959 with the Reddit coo earlier today, Amy or in the hand, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.240 equity capital markets reporter at Bloomberg News, and man Deep 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.200 Singh also with us in studio, senior tech industry analyst 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:07.440 at Bloomberg Intelligence. 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.280 Tim We want to add another name to this Roundtanel. 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.200 Yeah, because we have with us the person who wrote 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.959 the book about Reddit that came out back in twenty eighteen. 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.040 Back with us is Christine Logorio Chaffkin, Editor at Large 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.120 at INC Magazine, also the author of We Are the Nerds, 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:26.840 The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet's culture laboratory. Christine. 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:28.559 By the way, we should note if her last name 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.280 sounds familiar, it's because she's the wife of Bloomberg BusinessWeek's 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.920 Max Chafkin. She was at the New York Stock Exchange 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.320 a little earlier today. Right now, joining us from her 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.079 office in New York City. Christine, Welcome back to Bloomberg 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:44.559 Business Week a day like today. After writing a book 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.760 about the history of Reddit. What is Reddit today versus 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:50.400 Reddit in its early years? 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.360 Wow? Yeah, it's a very very different company, right. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.240 I mean, you're talking about the viability of selling advertising 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.000 or talking about selling you know, language two large language 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:04.640 learning models and selling their basically AI companies being a 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:05.360 big customer. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.160 That was unheard of ten years ago. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.560 It was also unheard of for Reddit to really be 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.880 a mainstream news source ten years ago. It was really 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.600 a kind of dark corner of the Internet at that point, 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.440 with a lot of pornography, a lot of a lot 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.160 of heat speech. And it's been a remarkable journey that 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.559 it's been through to kind of clean up that make 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:32.679 its content modern, content moderation modern, and it's become sort 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:33.880 of a model for that. 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.520 Well and such. It's a long way, it sounds. Take 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.360 us to the Exchange earlier today, you were down there, 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.320 tell us about stuff SNeW and what else the activity 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.040 was at the New York Stock Exchange as it got 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:46.320 ready to debut. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.400 You know, I walked into the lobby of the Stock 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.480 Exchange and there's just a stuffed SNeW which is a 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:58.360 little round alien that is the company's avatar or mascot. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.120 And I saw a security guard sort of coup at it, 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.560 which was very cute. But then ringing the bell on 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.480 the floor at nine thirty am was not CEO Steve Huffman. 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.640 It was a human I assume, in a like large 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.079 stuffed snooze suit, which I think, you know, it was 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.400 sort of meant to stand for every man, not a 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:21.680 dark place anymore. Huh yeah, yeah, it was very cute, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.679 you know. I mean so, I think they're trying to 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.360 appeal to their core audience as well as investors, right, 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.360 they need to keep their users happy at the same 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.240 time as they've gained a lot more shareholders. 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.640 Hey, talk to us a little bit about that balance, Christine, 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:39.120 because you know, it's not necessarily Reddit's not necessarily a place. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:40.360 You know. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.760 Look, there's a niche for everything on Reddit. I think 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.360 it's fair to say, but the attitude of the users 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.400 is not certainly one of one percent supportive of this 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.079 company going this route. So does how does Reddit walk 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:54.840 that line and keep that balance? 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.640 Yeah, no, absolutely, users are are quite skeptical. There are 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.160 you know, hundreds of thousands of posts on the site 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:07.040 from users expressing skepticism. What happens when Reddit needs to 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.400 make more money, does it start charging us? Does it 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.360 start you know, does the selling of the content start 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.680 to become something that inhibits more speech on the site. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.800 You know, there's a lot of skepticism, and it is 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.240 very important for Steve Hoffman and the other executives that 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.320 read it to listen to those sentiments and keep users happy. 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.600 He did say in an almost ame earlier this week 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:33.480 that you know, he does listen to users and that 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:35.840 site revolts such as the one that happened last summer 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:40.560 are very valuable to him and our learning opportunity because 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.160 you know, the users are the bread and butter. They 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.360 need to keep growing those users, to keep growing those 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.920 advertising money. Advertising is still their primary and they said 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.080 in the s one they're they're really only way of 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.680 making money right now. So it is it's very very important. 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.640 He really wants to get a rebellion users, and they 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.120 need to keep the site very very friendly and growing 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.120 point those sort of user revolts in the future. 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.040 Well, that's what I was trying to get to earlier 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:05.800 with Ed Lulow. I want to go back to you 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.040 or listening to Christine, but this whole idea of kind 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.640 of what this this site has been like. And I 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.680 know they've cleaned up some stuff, but I do wonder, like, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.400 what is that balance of bringing in advertisers. Mendeep earlier 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.120 talked about their already bloated cost structure that they maybe 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.320 need to work on that, but also they need to 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.400 raise their user base. I mean, there's a lot of 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.400 things that they're going to be juggling now as a 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:28.440 publicly held company. 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.920 The notes was published twenty eighteen. I think I'm right 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.600 in saying, but that's like a really interesting year because 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:38.160 that was the year that Jen Wong joined, right, And 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.160 I'm sorry to keep going back to her. It's not 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:44.200 just that I interviewed her earlier, but like, I think 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.960 a lot of people would credit Jen Wong with operationalizing 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.760 Reddit and making it into a proper business. And by 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.320 the way, she's like a really significant shareholder more than 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.560 two million of the shares outstanding, more than Steve Huffman 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.960 as it stands, because he has a complicated comp package. 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.200 And I just wondered if you could reflect on what 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:09.040 you think the tipping point was in Reddit growing up 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.280 as a company a little bit because it was so 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.640 influenced by the community, right, you know, the moderators, moderate 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:17.240 Christine come on in on that. 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:19.560 Yeah, yeah, I do, I mean, I do think that 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.080 there was this really interesting moment when do you remember 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.160 back when Ellen Power is briefly CEO. 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.480 She was interim though, right, that was on an interim basis. 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.960 She I think everyone intended for it to last, and she, 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.640 you know, literally got harassed out of the role by users. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.240 But what she did, this very important thing, is she 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.080 basically isolated and cut off or started to cut off 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.400 five different communities that were just full of hate speech 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.480 on Reddit. And it was super controversial at the time, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.320 and it has since over the past decade, become a 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.160 thing that Reddit does all of the time. You know, 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.520 Reddit now has a whole set of rules and a 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.880 whole different structure of moderators that was influenced by that 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.880 very first that you know, back then, researchers found that 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.240 just elimiting those five communities had a really interesting trickle 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.520 down and eliminated it slowed hate speech throughout the entire site. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.680 I mean that was I think this turning point. I 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:15.040 think hiring a more advanced salesforce, hiring chen were also 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:19.160 very important, you know, steps for the company. But it's 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.840 it's still you know, it's still a work in progress. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:26.320 And any site that relies on a community of unpaid moderators, 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.040 you know, like Reddit does is it's going to always 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.000 be a battle, right redd it only has what some 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:33.119 thousand employees. 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.280 Hey, listen, everybody, just a quick check. Our roundtable discussion 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.200 will continue in a moment. But Reddit share is still 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.080 up about forty six percent here in the session. At 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.400 their highs there were almost fifty eight dollars a share, 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.480 that was a seventy percent gain on its first day 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.000 of trading. Still up, as I said, forty six percent 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.000 the stock closing, I mean stock trading forgive me just 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.680 under fifty dollars a share, So still quite a pop. 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.800 Amy or is still with us here at Bloomberg News 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.440 watches the IPO market. I mean safe to say we 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.560 still have what a couple of hours to go before 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.480 we wrap up this trading day. But right now it 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:07.560 looks like a pretty successful ipo. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.960 Looks like it, and I'm sure that a lot of 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.040 bankers are really happy about it because given that over 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:16.320 the weekend it was the message was kind of like 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.400 confusing because it was four to five times book. When 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.800 people were seeing like four to five times book, it 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.040 was not a good book just generally, and there was 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.639 talk about like now coming into the beginning of the 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.920 week and then especially just before prizing, the book cover 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.920 was more than thirteen times covers. So essentially there's a 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.959 great ramp up and especially from long only funds, and 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.440 that's why, Yeah, it's been holding up pretty well. 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.880 You see the momentum, all right. As we said, we're 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:49.439 talking with Christine Lagorio. Chafkin wrote a book about Reddit, 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.520 We Are the Nerds, The Birth and tumultuous life of Reddit, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.520 the Internet's culture laboratory. Also still with us is our 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.040 own ed La Low, co host of Bloomberg Technology, and 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:02.720 Amy Or who watches the IPO market here at Bloomberg. Christine, 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.120 I want to go back to you as you think 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.639 about this company, you know what it's in a you know, 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.600 they're coming public in a market where there's some really 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.240 big players out there, and I get the AI data play, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.480 and that could be a lot of potential for them, 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.960 But what do you see is their biggest challenges going forward? 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.199 Having done this deep dive in your book into the 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.280 company and into its history, yeah. 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.199 I think this transition into into AI is going to 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:30.080 be challenging, both as a perception and in reality in 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.760 a sales reality. But let me just say that Steve 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:35.440 told me so. I did speak to Steve earlier today 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.760 as well, and he told me something really interesting, which 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.440 was that, you know, this long road that they've had 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.200 to IPO, they filed first and talking. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.560 About Steve have been the CEO of the company. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:45.639 Yeah, it's got to Steve Hoffan earlier this morning, and 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:47.760 you know, he said, basically, they've been doing earnings calls 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.119 since then. They did five different rounds of meetings with 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.560 investors before they even did their roadshow. So by the 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:55.280 time they got to the road show, he said, like 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.879 everyone sort of knew the business so well and didn't 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.320 have as many questions as he expected, which you know, 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:02.680 if you know ready, you know Reddit requires some explanations. 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.240 So I thought that was a kind of interesting detail. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.480 But I think the AI thing is very interesting and 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.399 it's a challenge, but it's also I mean, as AI 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:12.399 starts to shift to the Internet and the way we 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.359 interact with search, I have been noticing more of my 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.680 peers are searching, say Google, with the word reddit dot 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.679 com in it, so that they get a real human 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:26.000 response to their querry instead of getting an AI generated response. 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.119 I think you can stand to benefit from the growth 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.720 of AI, not just from a salesforce. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.120 Aingle, because you're arguing, Christine, that we could be desiring 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.919 something that is more human in a world that is 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.560 dominated increasingly by answers generated by AI. 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:43.760 Yeah. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:45.840 Absolutely, Okay, so let's talk. 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.080 A little more because Ed Ludlow spoke earlier to Gen Wong, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.000 the COO of Reddit, all about the way that Reddit 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.679 could use AI as a business model in terms of 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.879 training using its content to train AI models. Christine was 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:02.200 even in the research that you did for your book, 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.840 which again was published in twenty eighteen, was that even 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.400 on the radar of folks that read it back then? 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.080 Hey, I gosh, I do not think it's nothing that 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:12.840 I talked with them about. I do have to say, 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.359 I mean, at that time, Sammon was still on the 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.960 board of Reddit, but he was and he had founded 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.480 chat GBT, but he was not like you know, in 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:24.520 the press about it yet and it was not working 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:26.200 on it full full time yet. 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:27.760 So no, it's something we really discussed. 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.200 All right, guys, just got about a minute and a 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.000 half left here. I want to go round Robin as 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.240 we get ready to just wrap up this hour here, 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.040 Amy or watching this IPO thirty seconds here on what 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:37.520 you're thinking? 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:39.840 I think read it went public at the right time 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.520 for the company. It might talk it might have took 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.600 it eighteen years for it, but then it became profitable 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.360 in the fourth quarter, and that gave investors a lot 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:49.000 of confidence. 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:49.800 What do they always say? 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.240 It's always bad timing, right place, right time, And Ludlow, 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.080 what are you thinking? We're going to continue obviously the 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.000 coverage here on Reddit and broaden out here, but what 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:58.760 are you thinking here? 0:20:58.760 --> 0:20:59.760 You've been following this one. 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:02.719 Very yeah, for the last six months to two years. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.320 Everyone has an AI story, and I just feel like 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.400 Reddit got their AI story right and at the right time, 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.760 and it answered a lot of questions and concerns that 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.439 people had about the legacy advertising of call it. Legacy 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.159 is pretty much brand new for advertising business. And so 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.560 let's see where they trade any year's time. That's the 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:20.920 fun of the market page. 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.840 Christine, just thirty second, last thirty seconds to you. The 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:25.359 book is called We Are the Nerds, The Birth and 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:29.400 tumultuous life of Reddit, the Internet's culture laboratory. Where are 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:30.960 we in reddits life now? 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:33.600 Yeah, we are entering a new chapter of reddits Lives. 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:35.159 You've have been this morning called me. 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.520 He's very excited to and an honored to be a 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.280 public company now. He said that, you know, looking back 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.800 to other great public companies, you don't even remember their 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.480 time as a private company. The iPhone was not made 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:50.639 by a private company. And so he's he's excited for 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.879 the next chapter. I think that there's a lot to 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.600 watch in terms of this stock to watch to see 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.600 if anyone takes out money, watch to see who you know, 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.800 who is you know who's who's buying their AI message 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:07.560 was at the right time and it is going to 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:09.320 be an interesting component toad to wrap. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.159 Thank you so much, Amy or Ed Ludlow and Christine 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:14.680 Lagorio Chafkin, thank you so much. Here's a Reddit folks 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.760 at fifty percent dot closing above fifty dollars a share. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.000 Carol Master Tim Stenevic. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:20.040 This is Bloomberg,