Still, with a chunk of Reddit shut down, there’s no initial public offering. So if Huffman really wants to go public, he will need to find a way to align moderators and investors. One option would be to pay mods, or – if they don’t want to become de-facto employees – reward them in other ways. For example, he has pledged to develop new tools to replace the beloved apps. Either path involves higher costs, and a more tortuous path to profitability.
In short, the mods have shown that Reddit needs a business-model tweak. And potential investors will want to see it in action before shelling out for the shares, which makes a rushed IPO seem unwise. The self-branded “front page of the internet” has been waiting to IPO since 2021; it may have to moderate its expectations again.