I got an email from reddit to the address for one of my old Reddit logins. The text, in part, when visiting the URL they provided (had to be logged in, not all of my old handles could see it):

Yes, it’s really happening this time, and as we take the next step toward becoming a public company, we’re inviting all eligible redditors to participate in Reddit’s IPO.

“Eligible” you note skeptically? Yes. Unfortunately, there are a ton of imposed legal restrictions defining when, who, and how we do this. So while our goal is to give all redditors the same access to stock as institutional investors (why should they have all the fun?), our lawyercats tell us we must follow specific rules listed below.

Our Directed Share Program (“DSP”) is set up to let eligible users and moderators own a piece of Reddit by purchasing Reddit stock at the same price as institutional investors when we IPO. We will offer this opportunity to as many redditors as we are able to accommodate, and the number of people who can participate is limited.

  • ccunning@lemmy.world
    2·
    10 months ago

    They, themselves, listed it as a risk in their prospectus filing with the SEC:

    Interest in our Class A common stock from retail and other individual investors, for reasons unrelated to our underlying business or macroeconomic or industry fundamentals, could result in increased volatility in the market price of our Class A common stock.

    In addition to allocations made to retail investors by the underwriters and through our directed share program discussed elsewhere in this prospectus, we anticipate that a portion of the Class A common stock offered hereby will, at our request, be offered to retail investors through Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, SoFi Securities, Inc., and Robinhood Financial LLC, as selling group members for this offering, through their respective brokerage platforms. These platforms are not affiliated with us. There may be risks associated with the use of such platforms that we cannot foresee, including risks related to the technology and operation of such platforms, and the publicity and the use of Reddit or social media by users of such platforms that we cannot control.

    In 2021, the market prices and trading volumes of certain securities, such as GameStop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., and other “meme” stocks, experienced extreme volatility. The rapid and substantial increases or decreases in the market prices of “meme” stocks may be unrelated to the respective issuer’s operating performance or macroeconomic or industry fundamentals, and the substantial increases may be significantly inconsistent with the risks and uncertainties that the issuer faces. This volatility has been attributed, in part, to strong and atypical retail investor interest, including as may be expressed on financial trading and other social media sites and online forums such as r/ wallstreetbets, one of our subreddits. Given the broad awareness and brand recognition of Reddit, including as a result of the popularity of r/ wallstreetbets among retail investors, and the direct access by retail investors to broadly available trading platforms, the market price and trading volume of our Class A common stock could experience extreme volatility for reasons unrelated to our underlying business or macroeconomic or industry fundamentals, which could cause you to lose all or part of your investment if you are unable to sell your shares at or above the initial offering price.