Photo: REX USA/Picture Perfect.
Reddit is about to get a makeover. The online community just got a $50 million investment, from usual suspects Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital, Paypal founder co-founder Peter Thiel, and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz.
But, two showbiz vets have also entered the Silicon Valley fray. Snoop Dogg and Jared Leto are among the high profile names throwing their money behind Reddit. Both stars are avid users of the site, which dubs itself "the front page of the Internet."
Since launching in 2005, Reddit has become a breaking news hub, a prolific meme generator, and a place of real discovery and activism. While it was initially embraced by the web's outliers, Reddit has broken through to the mainstream. Its "Ask Me Anything" threads, where notable people open themselves up to questions from the Reddit community, has attracted some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
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With approximately 133 million users a month, it was only a matter of time before Reddit got a major cash infusion. While the site has managed to maintain its stripped-down, DIY aesthetic by eschewing ads and sponsored content, its precisely that adherence to its traditional ideals that's made monetization a challenge.
How Reddit plans to use its newfound fortune remains to be seen.
"An investment like this doesn’t mean we’re rich or successful,” wrote Reddit CEO Yishan Wong in a blog post. “A couple days after we closed the financing, Sam came to our office and handed me a genuine 100 trillion dollar Zimbabwean note, as a reminder to us of the difference between money and value. Money can become worthless very quickly, value is something that is built over time through hard work.”
So, congrats to both Snoop and Leto on their new purchase. While both have yet to comment, we can probably wager a guess as to how they're celebrating. (The Telegraph)