UPDATED 00:10 EDT / JUNE 19 2017

APPS

Report: Reddit is looking for $150M in funding at a $1.7B valuation

Reddit Inc. is looking to rise $150 million in a fundraising that would boost its valuation to $1.7 billion, according to a report published by Bloomberg.

The San Francisco-based discussion website has been around since 2005, when it was founded by University of Virginia students Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. The site, while controversial due to its often criticized lack of moderation, has racked up billions of page views and is currently the ninth most-visited website in the world, according to Alexa. Nonetheless, the site has struggled with creating a profitable business model.

According to Bloomberg, Reddit has been looking for the investment in recent weeks. The source asked for anonymity as the terms were private, while a spokesperson for Reddit said nothing had been finalized.

Sold to Condé Nast Publications in 2006, Reddit now belongs to Condé Nast’s parent company, Advance Publications. Reddit last raised money in 2014 to the sum of $50 million in a round led by Y Combinator President Sam Altman. Silicon Valley meshed with celebrity in raising the funds, with an unlikely investor lineup including Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, actor Jared Leto and rap star Snoop Dog.

At the time of fundraising, then-Chief Executive Yishan Wong said creating value came before making money. “A couple days after we closed the financing, Sam came to our office and handed me a genuine 100 trillion-dollar Zimbabwean note, as a reminder to us of the difference between money and value,” he wrote in a blog post. “Money can become worthless very quickly, value is something that is built over time through hard work.”

Over the next few years, Reddit’s so-called anarchic principles would come under the spotlight, as did its efforts to clean itself up. This culminated in the resignation of CEO Ellen Pao, whose actions to curb harassment and X-rated content led to her receiving torrents of abuse from users.

Co-founder Steve Huffman is currently chief executive of the site. Huffman has had his hands full dealing with controversy over user harassment and the dissemination of fake news stories. At the same time, he has been trying create a new business model that pulls a profit from billions of monthly page views.

Image: Jurgen Appelo via Flickr

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