Is there a better musical candidate than Snoop Dogg to take part ownership in Reddit? It’s not likely, as the rapper has long been embedded in the viral news site, hosting a series of AMAs (Ask Me Anything open forums), frequently commenting on posts and more.
Reddit, which aptly calls itself the ‘front page of the internet,’ has raised over $50 million from investors including Snoop, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, musician and actor Jared Leto, Sequoia Capital’s Alfred Lin and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
Though it boasts 133 million active users each month, Reddit has resisted the trends of visual evolution over the years, looking much the same as it did a decade ago. As part of the investment deal, 10 per cent of purchased investments will go directly to Reddit users as a sign of appreciation for their role in making it a success. Site owners said it plans to use the cash to invest in new features, staff and building its mobile product.
Sam Altman, the president of incubator Y Combinator that originally launched Reddit, also took part in the fundraising.
In a blog post Altman said: “reddit is an example of something that started out looking like a silly toy for wasting time and has become something very interesting.”
Reddit was bought by Conde Nast Publications, the publisher of the New Yorker and Vogue, in 2006 and became a subsidiary of Conde Nast’s parent company Advance Publications. In 2012 Reddit was reiterated as an independent company, with Advance maintaining a dominant shareholder position.
