1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 2: Reddits, Listing day it's arrived. Let's bring in Reddit's chief 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 2: operating officer, Jen Wong for more on the big day, 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 2: live from the New York Sock Exchange. 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: Jen, it's a day to remember. 6 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 2: And I'm interested as to really for you how much 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 2: you are excited about redditors having part of the process 8 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 2: here or worried a bit about the volatility to come. 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: Thanks for having me today. 10 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 3: It's been our dream, our dream to have our users 11 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 3: and our communities to be able to be shareholders in Reddit. 12 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: Everything on Reddit is built by. 13 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 3: Our users and communities, so having them be owners makes 14 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 3: a lot of sense. 15 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: We're so excited about that. 16 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,639 Speaker 4: Jen, Good morning, It's ed in San Francisco. What's the 17 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,279 Speaker 4: main benefit of the IPO. You know, we always talk 18 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 4: about the money raise, the doll evaluation, but I always 19 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 4: reflect the an IPO gets your name out there. Not 20 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 4: everyone is on Reddit, not everyone one is a reditor. 21 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 4: How do you weigh up the pros and cons of listing. 22 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 3: Well, it's certainly a lot of press on a day 23 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 3: like today. It is a special day, But becoming a 24 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 3: public company has just made us a better company. We've 25 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 3: actually been in this process longer than most almost two 26 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 3: years actually, and that process has made us more disciplined, 27 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 3: more operationally rigorous, and actually allowed us to get to 28 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 3: know investors better and tell our story. 29 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: And so this whole process. 30 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 3: Has made us a better company, and we're prepared to 31 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,919 Speaker 3: be a public company. I think it's actually been really 32 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 3: good for us, and I think companies that you can 33 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 3: go public it's sort of a duty, it's part of 34 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 3: the process of maturing as a company. 35 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: And then the benefit of having. 36 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 3: Our sharehold our employee employees have liquidity which we promise 37 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 3: to them, and in addition, have our communities and users 38 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 3: be able to be sharehole makes a lot of sense 39 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 3: for Reddit. 40 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 4: Jen. The evolution of the story is for you moving 41 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 4: away from a solely advertising based business model to one 42 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 4: way you license your user data to the companies that 43 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 4: are building large language models. I just asked if you 44 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 4: could explain to our audience how that works in practice, 45 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 4: how you're going to grow that business. 46 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, loll. 47 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 3: Just ahead of addressing that, I just wanted to write context. 48 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 3: One of the things that's so special about Reddit is 49 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 3: that we play in three big addressable markets. 50 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: We have this core advertising. 51 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 3: Business adds is a great business. It's still early. We 52 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 3: have great traction and momentum. That's our core business. We 53 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 3: have an emerging data licensing business that we built the 54 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 3: foundations for last year because Reddit's corpus of information is 55 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 3: incredibly important to the training of large language models and 56 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 3: also for insights for different kinds of businesses. 57 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:56,959 Speaker 1: And the third is a user. 58 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 3: Economy where our communities go beyond conversation and to be able. 59 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: To transact with each other. 60 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 3: Now you asked about the data licensing business, which we've 61 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 3: built the foundations for last year. 62 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: That has two pieces to it. It is a piece 63 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: that's sort of well established. 64 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 3: Where there's social listening for marketing for companies who want 65 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 3: to understand what's happening on reddits and for marketing campaigns. 66 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 3: There's also financial services companies who are interested in that. 67 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,119 Speaker 3: Those are well established markets. And then there's the new 68 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 3: emerging market of AI, where large language models need data 69 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 3: to train on. And when you look at Reddit's corpus 70 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 3: nineteen years of human experience organized by topic with well 71 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 3: moderation and relevance, that's incredibly important to building both a 72 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 3: chat capability and the freshness of information so that's an 73 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 3: area where you know, we see opportunity. I think what 74 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 3: that signals, you know, whether it shows up honestly in 75 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 3: our revenue or red it shows up in the value 76 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 3: of Reddit. 77 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: Is how valuable Reddit is? You know, the more that 78 00:03:58,320 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: we move toward. 79 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,839 Speaker 3: This AI world, that corpus and that knowledge and refreshment 80 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 3: of human experience becomes more valuable to. 81 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 2: Our TV and radio audience. We are speaking with REDIT 82 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 2: Chief operating Officer Gen Wong and to that ongoing value 83 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 2: of your data to AI and to the large language 84 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 2: models being developed. I mean those llms, the models are 85 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 2: being built. 86 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: In new and different ways. 87 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 2: This actual technology also develops. I'm interested as to really 88 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 2: whether this goes on in perpetuity. Do you see this 89 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 2: sort of licensing being steady and secure for ten years 90 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 2: from now? 91 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 3: What I'd say is this is so early in this 92 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 3: emergence of this technology, it's hard to see far out. 93 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: The way I think about it, the way we think 94 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: about it is the. 95 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 3: Ready its corpus of data is incredibly valuable, and it 96 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 3: gets more valuable because as there's more more content that's 97 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 3: generated maybe by AI or computers, original human thoughts and 98 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 3: ideas increase in value. Right, If you think about it, 99 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 3: a new car comes out, who's going to review it? 100 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 3: A real life family of six can actually tell you 101 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 3: what it's like to drive that car. 102 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: That's always going to be valuable. 103 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 3: And so you know, whether that shows up in data 104 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 3: licensing or in the products that Reddit builds. 105 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: It is valuable. 106 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 2: Let's talk about a community that has been very valuable 107 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 2: at times and extraordinary at others. 108 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: To wol Street more broadly. 109 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 2: Has been the reditors who are very active on Wall Street. 110 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 2: We go back to Wall Street bets. We just think 111 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 2: about what happened to GameStop, for example. There is a 112 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 2: double edged sword here for you involving your reditors as investors. 113 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 2: How secure are you that you won't become a meme 114 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 2: frenzy yourself to the up and to the dam. 115 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 3: Look, I love the ethos of that community in all 116 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 3: of our investing communities. And who knows, I mean it's Reddit, right, 117 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 3: I mean, who knows what's going to happen, So we'll see. 118 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 3: I mean it's hard to say, but in the end, 119 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 3: I think having our users in community be shareholders is 120 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 3: a good thing and I think ultimately will be judged 121 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 3: on our performance and that'll take time for people to know, 122 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,600 Speaker 3: but ultimately I think that's what investors Judge Judge. 123 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 4: Us on Jen we're awaiting the opening trade Bloomberg reporting. 124 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 4: The indication is the stock will open somewhere between forty 125 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 4: two or forty six dollars a share. It's quite a 126 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 4: premium on the IPO price. You're one of the biggest 127 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 4: shareholders as well. Just give me your personal feeling in 128 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 4: this moment. 129 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of like a wedding day. 130 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 3: I guess lots of different emotions, joy, relief, jitters, all 131 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 3: of it in one I haven't even processed it, frankly, 132 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 3: but it is a special moment. It is one milestone 133 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,239 Speaker 3: in a history of a nineteen year company that I think. 134 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: Has a lot of runway. 135 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 3: You know, we're nineteen years old, but we're really young 136 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 3: as a company, and this is sort of the start 137 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 3: of the next chapter. 138 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,160 Speaker 4: Reddit Chief operating Officer Jem Wong live from the NYC. 139 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 4: We're grateful for your time on listing Day. 140 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: Thank you,