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Reddit Takes Step Toward Eventual IPO, Naming Vollero First CFO

Reddit Inc. appointed Drew Vollero as its first chief financial officer, taking a step closer toward an initial public offering.

Reddit Takes Step Toward Eventual IPO, Naming Vollero First CFO

Reddit Inc., one of the world’s most popular internet forums, appointed Drew Vollero as its first chief financial officer, taking a step closer toward an initial public offering.

Vollero led Snap Inc.’s IPO preparations when he served as CFO at the social media company from 2015 to 2018. He has also lead finances for Mattel Inc. and most recently at security and facilities services firm Allied Universal Corp. At Reddit, Vollero will expand the finance team as the company grows and looks toward an IPO.

Reddit Takes Step Toward Eventual IPO, Naming Vollero First CFO

Steve Huffman, Reddit’s chief executive officer, said in an interview with the New York Times Friday that the company didn’t have a timeline for going public. “We’re thinking about it. We’re working toward that moment,” Huffman said. In a 2017 interview with Variety, Huffman called an eventual IPO, which he saw as possible for 2020, as “the only responsible choice.”

“Drew is an industry thought leader, who brings a track record of building a global finance organization for high growth companies,” Huffman said in a statement Friday.

Founded in 2005, Reddit has been seeing strong growth, even before it found itself at the center of a stock-trading frenzy around GameStop Corp. The fourth quarter of 2020 saw a 90% increase in advertising revenue from a year earlier and daily active users grew to more than 52 million. In February, Reddit said it raised $368 million in a private stock sale, bringing its valuation to more than $6 billion.

WallStreetBets is the Reddit forum best known for promoting GameStop stock, vaulting it nearly 3,000% in January and drawing regulatory attention. But the 15-year-old company hosts more than 2 million message boards, or subreddits, on topics ranging from woodworking to fashion. Some subreddits have been criticized for racist environments, leading Huffman to ban hate speech for the first time in 2020.

A list of Vollero’s favorite subreddits was devoid of any such controversies. They include r/dadjokes, r/worldnews and r/travel.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.