Thursday, March 21, 2024 6:47:37 PM
Story by sstokes@insider.com (Samantha Stokes)
LINK
* Reddit went public Thursday after raising $748 million in its initial IPO.
* IPOs are normally a day of celebration for companies.
* But Reddit's co-founder took to X to call out a perceived slight by investor Initialized Capital.
IPOs are typically a day reserved for celebration. But it's not all sunshine and roses for Reddit, whose co-founder and early investors are bickering on social media.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian Getty Image © Getty Images
Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit in 2005 alongside Steve Huffman, took to X, formerly known on Twitter, on Thursday afternoon to call out Initialized Capital — the VC firm that he co-founded with Y Combinator's Garry Tan — for not congratulating him by name in the firm's post about the company's IPO.
"Great to see our portfolio company @reddit debut on the NYSE! congrats to Steve Huffman, and the team," Initialized Capital posted on X Thursday afternoon.
In response, Ohanian quoted the posts and tagged the accounts for Tan and Initialized managing partners Brett Gibson and Jen Wolf.
Wow, this is petty, @GarryTan, @brettdg, @jenhwolf — even for y'all," he wrote.
Alexis Ohanian called out Initialized Capital investors on X after the firm's social media account failed to congratulate him by name on Reddit's IPO. X © X
Garry Tan tweeted a congrtulations to both Alexis Ohanian an Steve Huffman on Reddit's IPO. X © X
Ohanian responded to Tan's post, linking the post from Initialized Capital.
"Thanks Garry!" he wrote. "any idea what happened here?"
Ohanian, Tan, and representatives for Initialized Capital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ohanian and Tan created Initialized back in 2011 to focus on seed investing, and the firm has written early checks for startups including Instacart, Rippling, and Coinbase. It also invested in Reddit's 2012 Series A funding round.
He left Initialized in 2020 to launch the VC firm 776, which has primarily invested in early-stage crypto startups. The move came just weeks after Ohanian, who stepped away from Reddit's day-to-day operations in 2018, resigned as a board member in the wake of George Floyd's murder and implored the company to replace him with a Black person.
Michael Seibel, a colleague of Tan's at Y Combinator, took over his seat, becoming the first Black board member in Reddit's history.
Reddit first sparked rumors it planned to go public in early 2022, when it confidentially filed for an initial IPO and stated plans to potentially go public by March of that year. The market, however, has been shaky during the past two years, making it less desirable to go public and causing several companies to put off pursuing an IPO.
Instacart broke open the IPO market in late 2023, but its public offering flopped and likely had a cooling effect on other late-stage startups weighing whether they should go public.
Reddit's first day on the New York Stock Exchange, however, has been a success: the company set its initial share price at $34 Wednesday night and opened Thursday morning at $47 apiece.
On Tan's personal X profile, he did tag both Ohanian and Huffman in a post congratulating Reddit on its stock market debut.
"Big congrats @alexisohanian @redditspez on building something people want," Tan wrote, sharing a link to Reddit's profile on Y Combinator — the startup was a member of the accelerator's inaugural class — and an old photo of the two.
I've never claimed to have all the answers but feel i'm beginning to corner the market in questions worthy of them.
Recent RDDT News
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/23/2024 12:42:05 AM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/23/2024 12:35:43 AM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/23/2024 12:34:10 AM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/23/2024 12:32:09 AM
- Form 4 - Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/23/2024 12:29:43 AM
- U.S. Stocks May Add To Last Week’s Strong Gains In Early Trading • IH Market News • 05/20/2024 01:10:36 PM
- Form S-8 - Securities to be offered to employees in employee benefit plans • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/20/2024 10:03:35 AM
- Dow Finishes Choppy Trading Day Above 40,000 For First Time • IH Market News • 05/17/2024 08:35:35 PM
- OpenAI’s Reddit Partnership Boosts Shares by 14%, Microsoft Embraces AMD Chips for AI, and More News • IH Market News • 05/17/2024 11:36:28 AM
- Meme Stock GameStop Rallies After Roaring Kitty Post • IH Market News • 05/14/2024 12:31:22 PM
- Novavax Surges 57% Post $1.4 Billion Sanofi Deal; Apple Boosts Data Centers with AI and Internal Chips, and More News • IH Market News • 05/10/2024 12:02:56 PM
- Form 3 - Initial statement of beneficial ownership of securities • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/09/2024 10:06:54 PM
- Reddit to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences • Business Wire • 05/09/2024 06:23:00 PM
- Reddit Rises 15% After First Quarterly Report, Upstart and Twilio Plunge Due to Weak Q2 Forecast, and More in Earnings • IH Market News • 05/08/2024 12:23:27 PM
- Form 8-K - Current report • Edgar (US Regulatory) • 05/07/2024 08:15:37 PM
- Reddit Announces First Quarter 2024 Results • Business Wire • 05/07/2024 08:07:00 PM
- Disney Slashes Streaming Losses, UBS shoots up 9% as profit triples expectations, and More in Earnings • IH Market News • 05/07/2024 11:46:44 AM
- Perficient Stock Soars 52.9% Post-Acquisition; Luminar Declines 10% Amid Workforce Cutbacks, and Other News • IH Market News • 05/06/2024 12:09:00 PM
- Anglo American Rejects BHP Group’s Offer, Toyota Invests $1.4 Billion in Indiana, and More News • IH Market News • 04/26/2024 11:48:07 AM
- Ericsson Soars with 66% Net Profit Growth; Live Nation Under Antitrust Scrutiny in US, and More News • IH Market News • 04/16/2024 11:18:19 AM
- Paramount Global Board Shrinks, Morgan Stanley Faces Regulatory Probe, and More News • IH Market News • 04/12/2024 11:05:29 AM
- Reddit to Announce First Quarter 2024 Results on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 • Business Wire • 04/11/2024 08:22:00 PM
- Apple Terminates 614 Employees, Disney Unveils June Crackdown on Password Sharing, and More Updates • IH Market News • 04/05/2024 11:38:57 AM
- FedEx Soars 13% with Profits Above Forecasts, Nike Hit by China Slowdown, and Latest News • IH Market News • 03/22/2024 01:07:53 PM
Avant Technologies Engages Wired4Tech to Evaluate the Performance of Next Generation AI Server Technology • AVAI • May 23, 2024 8:00 AM
Branded Legacy, Inc. Unveils Collaboration with Celebrity Tattoo Artist Kat Tat for New Tattoo Aftercare Product • BLEG • May 22, 2024 8:30 AM
"Defo's Morning Briefing" Set to Debut for "GreenliteTV" • GRNL • May 21, 2024 2:28 PM
North Bay Resources Announces 50/50 JV at Fran Gold Project, British Columbia; Initiates NI 43-101 Resources Estimate and Bulk Sample • NBRI • May 21, 2024 9:07 AM
Greenlite Ventures Inks Deal to Acquire No Limit Technology • GRNL • May 17, 2024 3:00 PM
Music Licensing, Inc. (OTC: SONG) Subsidiary Pro Music Rights Secures Final Judgment of $114,081.30 USD, Demonstrating Strength of Licensing Agreements • SONGD • May 17, 2024 11:00 AM