Conde Nast will let Reddit spin off as a separate organization with hopes that the greater autonomy will increase Reddit’s growth. Conde will retain ownership as Reddit seeks to first increase its staff, starting with a CEO that will let Reddit reach its “full, unbridled potential,” according to a post announcing the change on Reddit’s company blog. A new board of directors will soon take shape, and for now, it includes Conde executives along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
“We don’t want Redditors think that anything has changed from their perspective, other than that the company has the ability to just go do things, ” Ohanian says. Reddit employees have complained about Conde’s lack of attention and resources invested in the website.
Founded in 2006 from a rented Massachusetts apartment, Reddit functions as a social news website. It provides users a ranking of popular content across the Internet, and lets you submit links to additional content. You can also add personally created content and share it. And plenty of people use the site. In a little more than a year, Reddit tripled its size, growing form 7 million users each month to 21.5 million now generation 1.6 billion page views monthly. All in all, Reddit “has become the engine for creating innovative and influential communities online,” Ohanian wrote on his Google+ page.
A few months ago, Conde discussed selling Reddit, valuing it at around $200 million. Conde maintains it’s still open to potential bidders — an intriguing possibility, as long as no one changes the adorable Martian-like astronaut as the logo.
Read more at AllThingsD.
