Reddit soars on its New York debut as float-starved investors pile in to the online forum

Reddit soared on its New York debut as float-starved investors snapped up the stock.

The social media company priced shares in its initial public offering at $34. But last night, the stock traded as high as $57.80, a 70 per cent rise on its target price.

The buying frenzy cooled over the session with the stock – which trades under the ticker ‘RDDT’ – finishing nearly 40 per cent up at around $47. That gave it a value of $7.43billion.

Reddit’s debut as a public company has been in the pipeline for more than two years, having first filed in December 2021 before deciding to delay as a result of the pandemic.

The company is an online forum where users can discuss topics that interest them. At the end of December 2023 it had more than 73m users. 

But they do not pay to browse, post and comment on Reddit. Founded in 1995, it has said it is ‘in the early stages of monetising its business’ and is yet to turn a profit.

‘The real news is going to be after the first earnings call – where are they headed, what are the results looking like,’ said Reena Aggarwal, director of Georgetown University Psaros Center for Financial Markets.