Reddit is one of the most visited websites on Earth, with over half a billion users and a top-10 global rank. But here’s the strange part: for years, it barely made a dime.
In fact, Reddit’s very design, its anonymous accounts, niche communities, and anti-corporate culture, made it nearly impossible to monetize. But that’s starting to change. After going public in 2024 and striking major AI deals with Google and OpenAI, Reddit finally turned a profit.
There’s just one problem: they had to turn on their own users to do it. From controversial API pricing that killed beloved third-party apps, to cracking down on the volunteer moderators that built the site, Reddit’s transformation has been anything but smooth.
So is this the beginning of a sustainable business model, or the slow death of what made Reddit special? In this video, we break down Reddit’s flawed path to profitability, why it struggles with ads, and what its future might look like now that it has to answer to Wall Street instead of its users.