IPO: Last News

Shares in Reddit, which surged last Thursday in their blockbuster IPO, exploded again Monday as bullish investors bought into options on the social media firm.

Shares of message board master Reddit headed sky high Thursday as the company launched its initial public offering. The stock was up nearly 60% from its midday at about $54, giving it a market cap of $8..8 billion. It’s a great showing for the biggest tech offering in some time since Reddit had set the IPO price at $34 a share.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Investors rallied around Reddit‘s initial public offering Thursday, driving the discussion-forum company’s stock up over 50% in its market debut. Through the IPO — expected to be among the biggest tech stock offerings of the year — Reddit raised $519 million and created a windfall for existing shareholders, including Condé Nast parent company Advance Publications and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Reddit is targeting a valuation of up to $6.4 billion as it gets for its initial public offering.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In what’s poised to be one of the biggest initial public offerings of the year, Reddit disclosed financial details of its forthcoming IPO, through which it’s aiming to raise as much as $748 million. On Monday, in an update to its S-1 filing with the SEC, Reddit said it will offer 22 million shares, expected to be listed at an IPO price of between $31 and $34 per share.

Social media platform Reddit filed with the SEC today for an initial public offering, a move anticipated for years by the company, which was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz. It boasts 100k+ communities, or subreddits, including wallstreetbets, the home of meme stock traders who upended Wall Street in 2021, taking shares of GameStop and others to the moon.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Reddit, the popular internet discussion “community of communities,” filed a registration statement Thursday for its long-awaited initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Reddit intends to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “RDDT.” In the S-1 filing with the SEC, Reddit reported 2023 revenue of $804.0 million, up 21% year over year, and a net loss of $90.8 million in 2023, compared with a $158.6 million loss the year prior.

Reddit appears to be moving closer to a long-anticipated IPO.

UPDATE, 5:43 PM: Ari Emanuel has received an early Christmas present courtesy of a LA Superior Court judge.

Shareholders at Saudi Arabian media giant MBC Group are seeking to raise as much as $222 million by listing the company on the Saudi Exchange, known as Tadawul. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s top broadcaster, has announced it is floating a 10% stake on the Riyadh stock exchange seeking to raise up to 831 million riyals ($222 million) in a move to boost growth and help fuel its output of high-end productions. “Institutional and retail investors will be allowed the opportunity to acquire shares and participate in the long-term growth plans of the company and the Saudi media market,” MBC Group said in a statement on Thursday.

Saudi Arabian media giant MBC Group has announced its intention to float a 10% stake in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Saudi Exchange, known as Tadawul, in the coming months.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese movie conglomerate Hengdian Films has inked a contract to fit Imax with Laser premium large format screen systems at 20 of its cinema locations. The order is the Imax’s largest recorded during the past four years. Hengdian Films is a pre-existing Imax client and the new deal will expand its Imax screen count to 27 when completed.

Although the tide could turn in the coming weeks with the expected approval of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, investment and M&A in the gaming sector declined again in the second quarter.

Imax Corp. is planning to acquire full control of its China subsidiary, the company announced Wednesday.

Former Fifth Harmony star Lauren Jauregui has a really fascinating theory about the whole Twitter s**t show that has gone down over the last week — and, like, the last year.

Alibaba Group has announced that co-founder Joe Tsai is taking over as chairman, while Eddie Wu, currently chairman of ecommerce businesses Taobao and Tmall Group, has been appointed CEO. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce, technology and entertainment giant, said Tuesday that Joseph C. Tsai will succeed Daniel Zhang as chairman of the group. Eddie Wu (aka Wu Yongming) will take over Zhang’s role as group CEO. Both men are veterans of the group. Tsai, owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball franchise, is currently Alibaba’s executive vice chairman. Wu is one of Alibaba’s founders and was its original chief technology officer in 1999. He has since held the CTO role at key businesses units including Taobao and Alipay and is currently chairman of Taobao and Tmall Group. Zhang, who took over as group chairman from the iconic Jack Ma, is in the process of orchestrating the biggest restructuring in Alibaba’s 24-year history. Alibaba, which has share listings in New York and Hong Kong, is to transform itself into a holding company with stakes in six separate business units that are free to raise their own capital or even go down the IPO route.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku expanded its board with the election of Jeff Blackburn, formerly Amazon’s top digital media and entertainment executive, at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday. Blackburn served as Amazon’s senior VP of global media and entertainment from May 2021 to February 2023, where he oversaw content businesses including Prime Video, Amazon Studios, MGM, Music, Audible, Games and Twitch. Before that, he was the ecommerce company’s SVP of worldwide business development, advertising and entertainment from 2012-20. He had first joined Amazon in 1998 after advising the company on its IPO. “Jeff’s extensive experience in digital media and technologies makes him a great addition to our board of directors,” Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood said in a statement. “I look forward to his contributions to Roku as we grow our leadership as the TV streaming platform of choice for more than 70 million households.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Reddit, the internet community discussion powerhouse, is cutting 90 jobs, laying off about 5% of its total employee base, as it restructure operations to position itself to break even in 2024. The job cuts were announced by Reddit CEO Steve Huffman in an email to staffers Tuesday. “We’ve had a solid first half of the year, and this restructuring will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond,” Huffman wrote. Along with the layoffs, Reddit is reducing its hiring plans for the rest of 2023 to about 100 additional employees (previously it expected to hire 300). Reddit currently has around 2,000 employees worldwide.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indonesia’s largest cinema chain Cinema XXI could be heading to the stock market through an IPO by early next year. Early details were reported by the Nikkei newspaper citing its finance industry partner publication Dealstreet Asia. They said that the company may seek to raise $300 million of fresh capital. Last year, financial news service Bloomberg said that Cinema XXI ‘s owners were seeking to raise $500 million-$1 billion through an IPO. The reasons for the large discrepancy are unclear. The company holds a 60% market share of Indonesia’s cinema exhibition industry and, as of December 2022, operated 225 cinema venues with a total of 1,217 screens.