Reddit Files to Go Public, Reveals That It Paid CEO $193 Million Last Year::Nineteen years since its founding, the social media site is finally going public.

  • ikapoz@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    So… the asshole who used reddits “unprofitability” as a fig leaf for hamstringing their user base with a garbage API policy just so happens to be the same guy that got paid 25% of the entire company revenue for the last year?

    What a Fucking chode.

      • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Who’s bullshit earned him more money then either of us, put together, could ever hope to make in our entire lives.

        In. One. Year.

        • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I’m in a comfortable position in my life right now, so I’m fortunate. That said I don’t know if I would sell myself out for that money. The money would be no good after I off’d myself from the guilt of being such a piece of shit. I’d probably be awesome for a while, but I’d either turn into the unempathetic monsters I hate, or it would catch up to me. Not worth it.

          Really I’d probably take it… I’m human.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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            9 months ago

            I’m afraid of the fact I may, but most likely not. What would I do with it? My problems with the few main things in life are not about money. Even in the moment of such a hard decision I’d likely just not take it out of fear for what’ll happen with my head.

    • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Standard, capitalist, non-unionized corporation. The exec layer and the major shareholders decide what to do with the revenue. Unsurprisingly they often decide to take as much as possible. Customers, users, employees have no leverage in the matter. Works as intended. 👌

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Reddit gave more than 1/3rd of its revenue to 2 people, plus options. Holy fuck.

    Apple doesn’t even pay it executives close to what Reddit is dishing out, even if you consider the stock they get.

    Do NOT invest in this company. Now that we can see the books, it’s clear how poorly things are actually run.

    • ikapoz@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Tim Cook of apple got paid $92 million in 2022 - a massive degree of overcompensation in my opinion, and an amount he got sued for.

      If he got paid at a comparable percentage of revenue to spez last year that would have been (amusingly) a 92 Billion dollar paycheck - 1000x as much.

      Regardless of how much I dislike the guy personally investors should be running away screaming from this IPO.

      • grantly@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Or cap executive pay at a multiple of worker pay. Making 100x the average lifetime earnings in the US in one year is sickening!

    • fidodo@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Looking it up, almost all of it is from stocks. Not sure how it works exactly, is that new stock he got or was it from his existing stock?

      • Chriswild@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        If the company is going public it doesn’t really matter, they can just sell the stock.

        • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Employees usually can’t just sell their stock whenever they want, especially at the C level. They have scheduled sales because they always have material knowledge about the company that would lead to insider trading.

          Regular employees will have long vesting schedules (often backdated to their start date if they worked there while it was private), and often can’t sell in certain blackout periods.

      • ikapoz@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        The way that article is written is a little vague, but it sounds like that is how much cash and stock he received just last year - independent of any gain he received from the value of his existing stock going up.

    • Ilgaz@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      What they do on several Reddit subs is market manipulation. I really wonder what keeps FED/FTC away from seeing this fact. They are allowing a service serving to market manipulation by criminals to have a IPO. So let’s say your post to wall Street bets is clearly illegal but it serves to Reddit. Will they hurry removing it or even removing the sub? The crypto gangs there are even worse, don’t mess with them. These guys are very well connected in real life, you know guns etc.

  • notannpc@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Remember when pigboy spez tried to say that the API pricing was, at least partially, because reddit still wasn’t turning a profit?

    I wonder if paying some fucking moron who brings effectively no value to the company $193 million has anything to do with it…

    • _number8_@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      so fucking sad. he got rung up on a bullshit technicality. broke my heart when i read about how his lawyers were begging the prosecution to tone down the bombast rhetoric and shock-and-awe proposed sentences because it was severely affecting his mental health. and yeah

    • d0n7p4n1c@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Behind the Bastards did a two part Christmas Hero episode this past December on Aaron Swartz. Thought it was worth a listen for anyone that wants to learn more about him.

  • gloss@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    Spez is an idiot who sold reddit to Conde Nast for peanuts, failed in very other start up he tried, and then came crawling back. And they somehow made him CEO. And he is overpaying himself by $193 million a year. Reddit deserves whatever happens to them.

      • ours@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Try this: Reddit users are getting emails and messages inviting them to the IPO at “the same price as institutions”. Imagine buying Reddit stock!

        Gotta pay that 200 mil a year to the CEO somehow.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      9 months ago

      I don’t get what as CEO he even actually does. When was the last time Reddit had any major update?

  • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    A friendly reminder that corporate corruption is still corruption, and a C-person is not an owner.

  • Faceman🇦🇺@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    I mean, Fuck Spez and Reddit and all but the article is clickbait, he was paid about $370k salary plus a bonus and the vast majority was shares.

    Dont invest in reddit, heck I’d even say bet against them, short them, They are just seeking a buyout from one of the big tech firms and want it out of their hands.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      9 months ago

      How is that clickbait? Calling income “a bonus” doesn’t mean it isn’t money being paid out by the company. When my company gives me shares, it’s still income that I pay taxes on because it’s something with a tangible value that can be easily converted into cash.

      CEO salary being a small fraction of their total compensation is extremely common because wages are taxed higher than everything else. They structure it like this to avoid taxes. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were/are paid $1 per year base salary and they’re two of the wealthiest people on the planet.

      • Faceman🇦🇺@discuss.tchncs.de
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        9 months ago

        Sure, but the stock is illiquid until after the IPO, and its current value is only based on the value estimate given for the purpose of the IPO.

        He will still make bank unfortunately, but its not unusual for new IPOs to give stock options to CEOs with ridiculous values that don’t really mean anything until the stock is publicly trading and a true value is established by the market.

  • modifier@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    I bet the remaining redditors could figure out a way to salt the proverbial earth for the ai, even as the site dies slowly.

  • sploosh@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    So that rich asshole killed a bunch of developers’ income streams because he checks notes is paid too much. What a greedly little pissboy the former mod of /r/jailbait is.

  • skozzii@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    He stole from us, the hard work of all the actual redditors who built that platform. Disgusting.