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Actually, Conde Nast is not footing any of the costs. Reddit is entirely self-sufficient.

masklinn 16y ago
As far as I know, this is incorrect. In fact, before the introduction of reddit gold reddit was so self-insufficient they were not allowed to hire because they were not making enough base revenue for Conde Nast to consider it worth growing in staff. Not profit, revenue. It might have changed post Gold, but I'm not so sure about that.
- redthrowaway 16y ago
  It definitely changed post-gold. IIRC, they're bringing in 40k/month from gold alone.
  - points 16y ago
    So that pretty much only covers their hosting costs...
    - redthrowaway 16y ago
      That's 40k on top of what they were already making from ads, Which was still more than their expenses.
      - points 16y ago
        What? You're saying they're making 40k (hosting costs) + all salaries from advertising? I find that incredibly hard to believe. Like impossible to believe.
        redthrowaway 16y ago
        I have no idea what their hosting costs were, or their 5 salaries, but they did make enough to stay afloat, although not enough for CN to approve more staff. Jedberg's commented in this thread, so I suggest you ask him whether they were profitable pre-gold.
        points 16y ago
        Their hosting costs were around $35k according to http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/ctz7c/your_gold_dollars_at_work/c0v8ug8?context=1 http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/ctz7c/your_gold_dollar... Since then afaik they've added more servers. > "but they did make enough to stay afloat" I think Reddit has been operating at a loss for quite some time.
        redthrowaway 16y ago
        Actually they were around $22,400 according to the comment just under that. Still, I wouldn't be able to tell you whether or not they operated at a loss. You'd have to ask jedberg.
        points 16y ago
        There's simply no way they're making anywhere near that from advertising. I would even have a hard time they're making that a year from advertising.
        redthrowaway 16y ago
        300 million pageviews/month goes a long way. Sure, their CTR is probably lower than most sites, but their traffic is huge. Let's say their CTR is 0.1%. That's 300k clicks/month. I'm building in some wiggle-room here, as a 0.1% CTR is abysmal, but often their ads aren't really ads. Even at $0.01/click, that's still $30k/month. More than enough for hosting. Now, I'd hazard a guess that most of my numbers are quite a bit on the low side, as reddit has operated for years without CN shutting the doors. Also, from what the admins have intimated from time to time, they make money, but not enough to register on CN's radar. I wouldn't discount their ad sales; traffic like that carries a lot of weight.
spez 16y ago
Actually, if reddit is truly self-sufficient, it's a relatively new development. Reddit was bought four years ago, and repeatedly told to not worry about money for the first 2.5 of those years and was accordingly not self-sufficient.

As far as I know, this is incorrect. In fact, before the introduction of reddit gold reddit was so self-insufficient they were not allowed to hire because they were not making enough base revenue for Conde Nast to consider it worth growing in staff. Not profit, revenue. It might have changed post Gold, but I'm not so sure about that.

redthrowaway 16y ago
It definitely changed post-gold. IIRC, they're bringing in 40k/month from gold alone.
- points 16y ago
  So that pretty much only covers their hosting costs...
  - redthrowaway 16y ago
    That's 40k on top of what they were already making from ads, Which was still more than their expenses.
    - points 16y ago
      What? You're saying they're making 40k (hosting costs) + all salaries from advertising? I find that incredibly hard to believe. Like impossible to believe.
      - redthrowaway 16y ago
        I have no idea what their hosting costs were, or their 5 salaries, but they did make enough to stay afloat, although not enough for CN to approve more staff. Jedberg's commented in this thread, so I suggest you ask him whether they were profitable pre-gold.
        points 16y ago
        Their hosting costs were around $35k according to http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/ctz7c/your_gold_dollars_at_work/c0v8ug8?context=1 http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/ctz7c/your_gold_dollar... Since then afaik they've added more servers. > "but they did make enough to stay afloat" I think Reddit has been operating at a loss for quite some time.
        redthrowaway 16y ago
        Actually they were around $22,400 according to the comment just under that. Still, I wouldn't be able to tell you whether or not they operated at a loss. You'd have to ask jedberg.
        points 16y ago
        There's simply no way they're making anywhere near that from advertising. I would even have a hard time they're making that a year from advertising.
        redthrowaway 16y ago
        300 million pageviews/month goes a long way. Sure, their CTR is probably lower than most sites, but their traffic is huge. Let's say their CTR is 0.1%. That's 300k clicks/month. I'm building in some wiggle-room here, as a 0.1% CTR is abysmal, but often their ads aren't really ads. Even at $0.01/click, that's still $30k/month. More than enough for hosting. Now, I'd hazard a guess that most of my numbers are quite a bit on the low side, as reddit has operated for years without CN shutting the doors. Also, from what the admins have intimated from time to time, they make money, but not enough to register on CN's radar. I wouldn't discount their ad sales; traffic like that carries a lot of weight.

spez 16y ago

Actually, if reddit is truly self-sufficient, it's a relatively new development. Reddit was bought four years ago, and repeatedly told to not worry about money for the first 2.5 of those years and was accordingly not self-sufficient.