Reddit now has a $500 million valuation after closing on a $50 million Series B round of financing. While noteworthy in its own right, it pales in comparison to the fact that investors in this round have proposed to give 10 percent of their shares back to the community.
In a blog post on the matter, Reddit CEO Yishan Wong said they've long been trying to find a way for the community to own some of the self-proclaimed front page of the Internet as it is their contributions that help anchor the site and give it strength.
They've discussed ways to make this a reality over the years but they never worked or were met with legal hurdles that wouldn't make it feasible. But now, Wong said, they think they've come up with a way. There are still a bunch of details that need to be figured out to make it work but they are hopeful.
Wong promised to share more details on the matter soon although he touched on the idea of creating a cryptocurrency in a separate post.
As for the new funding, Wong said they have chosen investors based on their belief in free speech, self-governing communities and the power of voting. He added that this freedom yields more good than bad.
The lead investor is Sam Altman with participation from Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz. Individual investors in the round include Peter Thiel, Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit, Jared Leto,Jessica Livingston, Kevin and Julia Hartz, Mariam Naficy, Josh Kushner, Calvin Broadus Jr. (Snoop Dogg) and Yishan Wong.