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Reddit stock price soars after social media player reports profit milestone
Reddit’s stock price is surging after the social media player notched its first profit in the company’s nearly 20-year history.
Reddit on Tuesday reported net income of nearly $30 million for the third quarter, while its revenue of $348.4 million for the period topped analyst forecasts. Those figures were up from a loss of $7.4 million on sales of $207.5 million a year ago. Showing impressive customer growth, the business now has more than 97 million daily users, up 47% from a year ago.
A key factor behind Reddit’s fast growth of late is artificial intelligence. In a letter to shareholders, Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said a new AI-powered service that lets people translate posts between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German quadrupled its number of users. Reddit plans to roll out the feature to more than 30 countries over the course of 2025, he added.
“In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice or community, they’re turning to Reddit,” Huffman wrote. “We saw this play out in real time when the White House came to Reddit to share critical information during recent hurricanes, reaching people in the affected areas with timely updates.”
Reddit was launched by Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz in 2005, only some 16 months after Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. But Reddit didn’t go public until earlier this year and had never turned a profit, piling up hundreds of millions in losses even as its audience steadily grew.
Reddit’s stock, which in March debuted on the New York Stock Exchange at $34 a share under the ticker symbol “RDDT,” have since more than tripled in value and traded Wednesday afternoon at $113.50, up 39% on the day.
Today, the company’s main source of revenue remains advertising, although it now also brings in money through financial agreements with companies like Google and OpenAI that train their generative-AI tools on Reddit’s content.
“Looking ahead, including the search experience on Reddit is a key part of our strategy,” Huffman said Tuesday in a call with Wall Street analysts. “We want to ensure that all users have the best experience possible. This includes users coming to Reddit from external search and those searching directly on Reddit who are looking for recommendations on what to buy, what to watch, or what products or services are the best.”
contributed to this report.
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Dodgers’ historic World Series comeback against the Yankees brings title back to Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series Champions after staging a stellar come-from-behind victory on Wednesday evening in the Bronx. The Boys in Blue swatted away a five-run deficit to defeat their bitter, longtime rivals in the New York Yankees and earn their eighth championship in franchise history.
A bizarre fifth inning saw the Dodgers storm back and score five runs, turning the tide of the series that seemed to have suddenly shifted in New York’s favor after their 11-4 victory in Game 4.
Unlike the high-powered offense that got them to this point, the Dodgers relied on small ball to eke out Wednesday night’s win, using several sacrifice flies and crucial base running to slowly claw their way back, and eventually climb ahead late in the game.
Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty was flat out of the gate, allowing back-to-back homers to Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm in the first inning and an RBI single to Alex Verdugo in the second, which led to him getting the early hook.
The Yankees tacked on another run in the bottom of the third when Giancarlo Stanton crushed an opposite-field homer off of reliever Ryan Brasier.
Despite holding a 5-0 lead, the Yankees faltered in the fifth inning, allowing the Dodgers to tie the game after a couple of fielding blunders, a two-run single from Freddie Freeman and a two-run double off the bat of Teoscar Hernández.
With Flaherty out of the game after just four outs, the Dodgers were forced to undergo their second-straight bullpen game, which saw manager Dave Roberts throw six arms in relief.
With the game knotted, Stanton drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, scoring Juan Soto from third base.
Yankees starter Gerrit Cole nearly went seven innings, and despite the rough fifth inning, walked off the field to a standing ovation from the fans in New York.
In the top of the eighth with a one-run lead, Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle loaded the bases without securing an out, making way for Luke Weaver, who has been incredible in October. He was able to limit the damage, but still allowed both the tying and go-ahead runs to score on sacrifice flies.
Lux first roped a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game and make way for Shohei Ohtani in a situation that seemed to be the makings of a Hollywood film. However, in a bizarre turn of events he made his way to first base after just two pitches on catcher’s interference from New York backstop Austin Wells.
Outside of that at-bat, Ohtani was silent again, going 0-for-four with a strikeout.
With the bases once again juiced, star outfielder Mookie Betts hit his own sacrifice fly to drive in the go-ahead run, giving the Boys in Blue a 7-6 lead.
Roberts left right-handed reliever Blake Treinen in the game for 41 pitches, in which he was able to get an incredible seven outs, sending the game into the ninth inning.
Though he’s traditionally a starter, Roberts called on Walker Buehler in the bottom of the ninth inning to face the Yankees lineup and he did just that, mowing down the bottom three batters and locking up the title.
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U.S. condemns Israeli airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians in Gaza
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