The front page of the internet is preparing to go public. Reddit, the user-moderated chat room founded in 2005 that ballooned into a sprawling hub of conversation and community, filed its prospectus for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commision on Thursday. 

In its Form S-1, Reddit reported losses of $91 million last year on revenues of $804 million, up 21 percent from $666.7 million in 2022. The company's targeted valuation is unclear, but earlier reports indicate it will be in the range of $5 billion. That would be a significant tumble from its 2021 valuation of $10 billion, which was cut by 41 percent in 2023, after Fidelity, a major investor, downgraded its equity stake in the company. 

Curiously, Reddit's prospectus names a recurring theme as a potential liability when the firm enters the public market: Its own users. Redditors created the "meme stock" craze of 2021, when members of the Subreddit r/WallStreetBets pumped up the share prices of GameStop and AMC, companies deemed to have declining prospects. But Redditors defied the odds against institutional investors and upended--if only temporarily--the traditional dynamics of Wall Street. 

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