Breaking News: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Reddit

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1. SpezsMom
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 9:59 am

   Congrats…

2. Alaska Miller
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:04 am

   Thus far Mr. Graham’s only hit. Would love to hear the sales price.

3. Louis Gray
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:16 am

   I wouldn’t have anticipated Reddit only had 4 employees. That is impressive. It’s great to see the smallest of startups be successful. I hope the purchase price made everyone happy.

4. Samer
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:21 am

   congrads to them, they have done a great job!

5. Vic
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:21 am

   Me neither Louis. The site is never down, there arent any ads that i can see, if any. And the site runs smoother than well… a site with heavy traffic should run!

6. Adam
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:29 am

   While they have played “second fiddle” to Digg in number of users, the content is much more varied, the commentary more intelligent, and they built up on a shoe string budget and stayed lean and mean. Congrats to Reddit - they are some of the good guys…

7. RJ
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:34 am

   Reddit is the ‘better’ version…if Reddit can be considered a version…of Digg. Echoing Adam (#6), it is clean, fast, uncluttered and the content a tad more substantial!

   Hoping Conde’ Nast are true to their intentions and leave Reddit alone and leave it ’steady as she goes’!

8. rieux
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:39 am

   Alaska: not Mr Graham’s first hit, actually; see loopt.com.

9. Blake
   

   October 31st, 2006 at 10:47 am

   My best friend works for Conde Nast, so as soon as I read this, I pinged him to see if he knew anything about the acquisition. He hadn’t heard of Reddit, but immediately sent me to http://lipstick.com/, a Conde Nast site. I had never heard of Lipstick.com, but looks almost identical to Reddit.

   Obviously, Conde Nast is waaay more tech savvy than I had originally assumed. Although, knowing what my friend is doing at Conde (taking all their mags online), it appears that Conde is preparing a pre-emptive strike on the magazine (media) industry.

10. Anshul
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 10:49 am

    Fantastic news for reddit. Just 4 employees was very surprising though. I hope that now we see more features on reddit.

11. The Dude
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 10:57 am

    @9:

    Lipstick *is* reddit. Click on “help” and you’ll see “never reddit before? here’s how”

12. Chris Lake
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:01 am

    One commentator on Reddit has “confirmed” that the sale went through at $65m. Big dose of salt needed. Still, if Digg is worth $150m who knows…?

13. Drew Olanoff
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:12 am

    Great purchase, love reddit!

14. Shuki Haiminis
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:13 am

    Congrats to the reddit team!!!!!

15. MoneyBags
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:17 am

    How much?

    Cash / stock?

16. Internet Blogger
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:19 am

    Why does people only admire companies when they do not carry advertisements? Are they that bad!??

    anyway, I always loved Reddit..four employees!! that was incredible…

17. Jojoma
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:21 am

    Congratulations!

    Big fan of reddit. Keep doing what you do!

18. MetroBellevue
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:22 am

    Yeah, Lipstick.com and Reddit.com look greatly alike, which makes a lot sense for the acquisition.

19. Nader Soliman
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:22 am

    Excellent exit if the reported $65m is right. Also Paul should be proud of that. Now … Digg how it will go with you?

20. Calvin Tang
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:26 am

    Congrats to the Reddit Team. I’ve always been a fan.

21. Amit Chowdhry
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:35 am

    “(see our interview with YCombinator founder Paul Graham here)”
    Last article:
    http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....y-jotspot/
    “Founders Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer are also founders of early web portal Excite, now an IAC property.”

    Evidence suggests that if you have the name Graham somewhere in your name, you will be acquired.

22. TL
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:37 am

    @Alaska Miller:

    It’s not Paul Graham’s only hit .. he sold Viaweb to Yahoo for a massive pile of cash.

23. David
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:38 am

    Conde Nast’s ownership of Lipstick.com was reported back in June. See here.

24. Aaron
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:39 am

    I love reddit. I think its better than Digg at filtering awesome content.

25. Reddit Soldout
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:41 am

    No ads.. Still no ads … really no ads.. what about the advertising link at the bottom that goes out to FM. You can continue to believe taht there will be no ads with wired in the game.

26. WormInBuffet
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:46 am

    I like the tech and the ease-of-use of reddit. the thing i don’t like is how it has become a battleground for politics. i think compaign organizations have highjacked that site and turned it into a democrats vs repukeblican propoganda war.

27. Ryan Elisei
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:51 am

    BRAVO! BRAVO!!!

    @Worm: You can read certain topic sections by themselves.

28. Paul Short
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:10 pm

    This came as quite a surprise to me. What, is the lack of pre-acquisition buzz the new thing now?

29. Abhishek Goyal
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    I personally wasn’t a big fan of reddit.

30. John Koetsier
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:31 pm

    Trying to understand this”

    “Wired will leave Reddit as a standalone site, and also integrate it into Condé Nast web properties.”

    Huh?

31. Aaron Swartz
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:39 pm

    I think he meant integrate Reddit-like features into other web properties.

32. lemon obrien
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:52 pm

    @Reddit only had 4 employees.

    any company with more and no product is in serious trouble. Its not like it takes a lot of work to sit and watch computers.

33. Sean
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:56 pm

    Congrats to them, although I have grown to hate that site. The user base is way too elitist, and the only thing that makes the front page is politics, religion, and programming (python and lisp mainly).

    Blah to that

34. Roshawn
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:57 pm

    Kudos to the reddit team. And to think that it’s only a party of four.

    Honestly, I don’t use digg or reddit. But I just love it when people make their dreams come true. Just more motivation for other web designers/programmers out there to make their mark on the web.

35. Sean
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 12:58 pm

    Why is it when I do a emoticon of a sticking out your tongue( : followed by P ) it makes it into a smiley face? That completely changes the tone of my comment. Blah to techcrunch.

36. BO
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 1:08 pm

    very nice I love reddit

37. dave at faceloop
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 1:22 pm

    Im happy for reddit - I think it is far superior to digg…

38. michael
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 1:25 pm

    i started using http://www.plime.com its more of a reddit meets wiki

39. michael j
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 1:50 pm

    Just don’t go pop now…….. justin timberlake pop like youtube. People like reddit better FOR NOW.

40. Alaska Miller
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 1:51 pm

    Wow. You guys are idiots.

    Reddit has been Paul Graham’s YCombinator’s first hit. As in sold and gave ROI back to Graham. Loopt was launched back in September, it’s not even that popular. If 65 mil is true then YCombinator just got 15 mil in its coffers.

41. N9
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 2:50 pm

    Conde Nast is very interested in growing online ad revenue and using its sites to increase other Conde titles’ rate base. I expect to see Reddit’s content window shrink and display ads creep across the screen like kudzu. Plus, it might be a good ancillary site for Portfolio once it officially launches. An interesting buy for ol’ Newhouse, in any event.

42. jeff
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 2:58 pm

    go reddit go, finally a total fair user driven commnity is becoming a big hit, I justhope wired keep reddit a fair user driven community and lets the user decide what stroies get on the homepage

43. Samer
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    i am happy for these guys.

44. Vik
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 3:24 pm

    HAHAHA, no ads. How the hell did they or will they make any $$??

45. Darren
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 3:40 pm

    I think this is just to get hold of the engine underneath and create more reddits for different niches. Each niche might just match one of thier mag IPS

46. Yakov
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 3:43 pm

    Reddit is very simple to use - that’s why it’s so popular. It should just get bigger. No wonder it’s been taken over before then.

47. infogami user
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 3:48 pm

    why is infogami so slow ??????????????????

48. gjones
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 4:30 pm

    Interestingly, I got turned on to reddit by reading an article by Paul Graham.
    Its exactly as he promised and a significant staple of my daily “whatsup?”.
    As for accusations of elitism, etc – I’m flattered. reddit has apparently evolved to cater to folks just like me. I cant be bothered with the meaningless or sordid that sites like digg provide. reddit does what it does best, and I hope it doesn’t change a bit,

49. Indigo-2
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 4:55 pm

    Great scoop - this wave of acquisitions in recent months is worth watching.

50. kevin
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 5:22 pm

    We were lucky enough to interview Reddit crew back in August for our first feature interview over at Juxtaviews.com - they really are a great bunch of people and we wish them the best. They answered A LOT of question for us, which we greatly appreciate.

    Here’s the interview if you’re interested:

    http://www.juxtaviews.com/2006.....d-so-easy/

51. Nik Cubrilovic
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 5:51 pm

    Congrats Alexis, Steve and the rest of the team! Reddit are a smart group of hackers who stayed small, focused and provided something that a lot of people love and use. An excellent example of Paul Graham’s principals in practice and how well they can work (except for LISP :)).

    This is now the third exit for Y! combinator (Kiko, Loopt, Reddit) so they are doing well.

52. Nik Cubrilovic
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 5:55 pm

    Lipstick is actually built on Reddit - that was announced months ago. The Reddit business model is to license the platform. The advertising link could be to advertise on other reddit-powered sites and not the main site

53. The Onion
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 6:22 pm

    I agree with most comments above - Reddit is a better service than Digg for several reasons:

    - It is available in languages other than English, allowing non-native English speakers to discuss news more relevant to them.
    - It is super clean and uncluttered.
    - It doesn’t have the hype of Digg, but simply delivers.
    - You will find more varied news stories there.

    Well done!

54. michael addicott
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 6:44 pm

    congratulations to the founders. we have admired the site for a while. clearly they are doing it the right way… thanks for the intuitive design and clean style. you all have a bright future i’m sure, in this and whatever you do next

55. Marc Nathan
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 7:52 pm

    Whatever the final acquistion number is (and the mix of cash and stock), this is a huge win for Paul Graham and the ycombinator team. I’m glad to see them on a roll and I hope that this success fuels more teams to make more cool, interesting and useful web apps. It might be too much to hope for, but maybe we’ll see ycombinator companies in cities like Houston one day: http://bulldogfinancial.com/bullblog/?p=27

56. David Mackey
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 8:15 pm

    Wonder what inspired Wired to take on this company?

57. anke ohanian
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 8:30 pm

    WOW”ON CLOUD NINE!” happy birthday dad!could not have been a better
    day!HIGH SUGAR RUSH!!!!!!:)(:

58. drawkbox
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    Reddit and Digg are heavy traffic drivers. Teh viral marketing of the present and future needs heavy customer bases to perviate from. Buying these for a magazine company is smart becasue they will put up articles with ads, then seed it in their viral networks (lipstick - gossip) (reddit - digerati/tech) others, then see their ads make alot of money. Building networks for your products or making them successful is the product worth buying for tech right now.

59. drawkbox
    

    October 31st, 2006 at 11:07 pm

    The ads are hidden within the content…

60. ashutosh
    

    November 1st, 2006 at 12:03 am

    looks like the market is consolidating it self with all the major players getting their acts together and are on buying mode. this augments well for the IT industry as all the websites will now have finance and the corporate support

61. SiliconValleyGuy
    

    November 1st, 2006 at 1:39 am

    Reddit has consistently more interesting, more varied, and more thought-provoking content than Digg.

    Keep up the good work.

62. Ryan Morin
    

    November 1st, 2006 at 4:24 am

    Interesting thoughts, everyone. I agree that reddit is far superior to digg in terms of content and ease of use. But I’m curious about the selling price. I wouldn’t pay 65 million to acquire a community of hackers and geeks. In reddit’s case, 10 million seems to be a reasonable price. But since we’re in the midst of other bloated Web 2.0 valuations (Facebook, YouTube, et al.), I’m going to rely on averages and guess that the purchase price was 37.5 million. A voodoo estimate.

63. Buffy
    

    November 1st, 2006 at 10:27 am

    This is tragic. As someone who works in advertising, I work with Conde Nast frequently. Admittedly, they have the highest quality media properties (Wired, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, etc). But they’re still so very corporate and reddit was so very not. I fear that CN will change my beloved site to be yet another vehicle for advertisers. And it’s not the ads I’m concerned about. It’s the propect of CN controlling the content rather than letting it remain organic.

64. NY
    

    November 2nd, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    My bet is that the deal is within around $1-2m, which would be a pretty reasonable hiring bonus for its truly excellent development team. Hopefully they will get them to work on something more meaningful than a million “Evil America” story links - content in Reddit has been rapidly sliding way down the Indymedia slope for the last 6 months or so.

65. chang kyu - rss search alerts
    

    November 3rd, 2006 at 3:24 pm

    I hear that a couple big players may be looking at http://znitch.com too

66. smdali
    

    November 28th, 2006 at 5:26 am

    Reddit future has changed

67. Tony Lynne
    

    December 29th, 2006 at 8:19 am

    CavengerNews.com is better anyway

68. Targeted Web Traffic
    

    February 17th, 2007 at 1:07 am

    I loved reddit… I hope wired doesnt destroy it

69. kolli
    

    March 12th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

    hello