r/WallStreetBets is headed to Wall Street

The social media site with a notoriously introverted community will soon face down one of its users’ biggest fears: going (out in) public. Reddit, which hosts web forums across a wide variety of topics, revealed details of its upcoming IPO in a new SEC filing.

The deets: Reddit is looking to raise up to $748 million at a valuation of $6.4 billion, which is lower than the $10 billion at which the social media platform was valued in a 2021 fundraising round. Reddit averaged ~65 million unique daily visitors and brought in ~$803 million in revenue last year, but recorded a $91 million net annual loss.

• The company’s public offering, which is expected to occur later this month, will mark the first major tech IPO of 2024 and the first social media debut since Pinterest in 2019.

Reddit’s IPO plan also includes an unusual twist. While it’s typical for tech companies to turn to the public markets for funding, Reddit stands out from most due to its choice to set aside ~$60 million worth of shares and offer some dedicated users – including the unpaid volunteers who moderate content on each forum (mods) – the chance to buy them in its IPO.

• This privilege is usually reserved for banks or hedge funds, who want to buy stock at a theoretically lower price before the public can purchase it.

📉📈 Zoom out: America’s IPO market needs Charles Barkley in his prime; it’s looking to rebound from a sharp downturn in recent years. Companies debuting on US stock exchanges raised $19.4 billion in 2023 and $7.7 billion in 2022, compared to an average annual rate of $50+ billion over the previous seven years.