Reddit's explosive user growth and AI tools help it soar to its first profit as a public company

NEW YORK -- Reddit has turned a profit for the first time as a public company.

The social platform claimed a profit of $29.9 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ending in September, and reported sales of $348.4 million, an amount surpassing the $312.8 million analysts had projected. Reddit also grew its number of daily users to 97.2 million, a 47% increase from the same time last year, according to a company statement.

In a letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said its new AI translation feature — which allows readers to convert posts between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German — was a primary driver of user growth, especially internationally in countries like France, India and the Philippines. Huffman wrote that Reddit plans to expand this feature to over 30 countries going into 2025.

“In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they’re turning to Reddit,” Huffman wrote. “We saw this play out in real-time when the White House came to Reddit to share critical information during recent hurricanes, reaching people in the affected areas with timely updates.”

While the company's advertising remains its main source of revenue, Reddit's earnings summary notes its recent data licensing agreements are beginning to pay off financially. Both Google and OpenAI have signed deals with Reddit to train their artificial intelligence models on its content.

San Francisco-based Reddit Inc., whose investors include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, went public in March at $34 a share. Before that, it booked profits in the first quarter of 2021 and fourth quarter of 2023.

Since the initial public offering, the stock has tripled, surging 42% to close Wednesday at $116.05.

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This story has been updated to correct that Reddit turned its first profit since going public, not in its 20-year history.