Conde Nast wants a return on their investment (rumored at $65m). So tiny and flat profits are going to be unacceptable to them. Probably the situation is this:

Conde Nast wants a return on their investment (rumored at $65m). So tiny and flat profits are going to be unacceptable to them. Probably the situation is this: Advertising isn't very lucrative on Reddit, so Nast has told Reddit management that they must come up with some plan to steepen the profit curve, or they're toast. And this is what they've come up with.