Reddit initially filed for an IPO in December 2021 and was expected to make its public debut the following March.
For the umpteenth time, the popular social media platform Reddit is reportedly getting set to make its public debut. This follows after a recent Bloomberg report confirmed that the firm has made reasonable progress in that regard.
Per Bloomberg, Reddit is currently in talks with potential investors and its Initial Public Offering (IPO) could happen as early as the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. And when it does go public, Reddit is reportedly looking to start at a valuation of around $15 billion.
However, the social media giant would be looking to take a cue from Chinese fashion company Shein, which also has a pending IPO that was filed on Monday.
Reddit’s On and Off IPO Plans
It might be worth mentioning that Reddit has been attempting to go public for over two years now. However, recent performances of other big public debuts post-IPO have seen the company develop cold feet on many occasions. 2022 was the worst in 10 years for IPOs, and this year has only been slightly better.
In September when the news of IPOs from Instacart and Klaviyo broke, many thought it signaled the revival of the public offering market. However, despite starting strong, both companies are now trading somewhere between 10% to 15% short of their first trade price. So it isn’t exactly surprising how that hasn’t helped to encourage many other intending public companies to make the move.
But then, the latest report about Reddit’s IPO looks to be tied to other reports. The Federal Reserve appears to be done with interest rate hikes for now. More so, expectations are that the Fed could begin to introduce interest rate cuts come 2024. That, and Shein’s pending debut have only added to the current buzz around public offerings.
But Never Lost Sight of Going Public
Reddit initially filed for an IPO in December 2021 and was expected to make its public debut the following March. However, the global market crisis began shortly after, and by May, Fidelity cut the estimated value of its shares in the company by one-third. But despite this, Reddit has been making moves to ensure that it continues to remain attractive enough to investors.
In June, the firm announced that the free access tier of its application programming interface (API) would henceforth have data rate limits. There have also been reports that the firm is currently contemplating blocking search crawlers from Google and Bing. The talks reportedly border on what compensation Reddit should receive for the use of its data to train generative AI.
Although Reddit claims nothing is happening at the moment, it also didn’t deny the possibility of blocking crawlers sometime later.
