In 2006, popular social news website Reddit was purchased by publishing giant Condé Nast where it grew into the juggernaut we know and love. Today, Reddit announced that it had declared independence and was being spun off into Reddit Inc.
Though Reddit is now separate from Condé Nast, it is still wholly owned by Condé Nast’s parent company Advanced Publishing. However, Reddit will now be operated by a board of directors. According to the site’s official blog, the board will consist of:
…reddit co-founder Alexis (kn0thing) Ohanian (read his thoughts here) will serve on that board, along with Bob Sauerberg (President) and Joe Simon (Chief Technology Officer) from Condé Nast, and Andrew Siegel (Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development) from Advance. Other internal or external directors may be added in the future.
Reddit Inc. has also begun a search for a CEO to head the company. There is currently no word on what factors will enter into that search, or how much karma candidates are expected to have.
For the time being, it seems that most redditors will not notice a difference in how the site operates. However, the newly-minted company has announced that they have big plans on the horizon. The current monetized “Reddit Gold” system will remain in place, but co-founder Alexis Ohanian told Venture Beat that they plan to explore more fund raising opportunities. The same report also mentioned the possibility of a custom mobile app for Reddit users.
Now under their own auspices, Reddit has aspirations that go beyond corporate structure and monetization. Again, from their blog:
We also now have the latitude to address some global issues. The reddit team, our Board, our informal advisors, and many in the reddit community sincerely believe that reddit has the potential, over the next generation, to positively impact journalism, civic engagement, fundraising, product development, and learning.
That’s right folks, Reddit will save the world.
(blog.reddit via Venture Beat)
