Reddit’s IPO Success Hinges on Infamously Unruly User Base

Some Redditors have scoffed at the invitation to buy shares, but they keep coming back to the platform. 

The WallStreetBets forum on the Reddit Inc. website

Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg
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Reddit’s users love to complain about Reddit. They also love to use it.

This week marks the deadline for the company’s most loyal posters and moderators to preregister for the chance to buy shares in Reddit’s impending initial public offering, before they start trading on the open market. There will be space for about 75,000 users, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move is intended to give the people who moderate Reddit’s forums and write its content for free the chance to reap some financial rewards.