Reddit to Cut 5% of Staff, Trim Hiring Amid Restructuring

Ed Ludlow, Bloomberg News

Reddit Inc. signage is displayed on a laptop computer in an arranged photograph taken in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. Twitch and Reddit Inc. banned content linked to President Donald Trump for violating their rules against encouraging hate. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Reddit Inc. is cutting its workforce by about 5% and reducing its hiring plans, as the startup refocuses on future growth.

The online forum operator is eliminating around 90 full-time roles, according to a memo sent to staff by Chief Executive Officer Steve Huffman, seen by Bloomberg News. The company has around 2,000 full-time employees. Reddit will also reduce its hiring plans to 100 new roles, down from 300 previously.

“The team and I reviewed and adjusted our plan through the end of 2024,” Huffman wrote in the memo. “We’ve had a solid first half of the year and this restructuring will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond.”

Huffman said the company’s priorities include “getting to breakeven next year” and funding data and API tools for the platform’s moderators. The company is planning to increase prices for third-party app developers and said it “needs to be paid fairly” to continue to support them.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the job cuts.

Reddit, the social media platform that helped fuel the stock meme frenzy two years ago, filed confidentially for an initial public offering in late 2021. But IPOs have stalled amid banking turmoil and economic recession risks.

The tech industry has been slashing staff since last year after over-hiring during the pandemic. Technology companies have announced about 136,800 job cuts in the year through May, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more than any full year since 2001. Reddit was one of the few holdouts that hadn’t yet announced any major staff reductions.

--With assistance from Priya Anand.

(Adds detail on planned IPO in sixth paragraph and tech industry job cuts.)