Why is Reddit losing money? Ahead of its IPO, Reddit's spending on research and development amounted to an eye-popping 55% of its revenue.
Reddit kind of anticipates this critique in its investor docs, and argues that it didn't really start operating as a serious business until 2018 when it finally started "meaningful monetization efforts" — that is, trying to make money for real.
But that's still six years ago. What has Reddit been doing since then?
One big, obvious answer: It has been hiring a lot of engineers and spending a lot of money on their salaries...
...What am I missing? I asked Reddit comms for comment but they declined, citing the company's quiet period before the IPO.