Reddit's explosive user growth and AI tools help it soar to its first profit as a public company

FILE - Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is seen on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, prior to his company's IPO, March. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Reddit has turned a profit for the first time as a public company.

The social platform claimed a profit of $29.9 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ending in September, and reported sales of $348.4 million, an amount surpassing the $312.8 million analysts had projected. Reddit also grew its number of daily users to 97.2 million, a 47% increase from the same time last year, according to .

In a , Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said its new AI translation feature 鈥 which allows readers to convert posts between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German 鈥 was a primary driver of user growth, especially internationally in countries like France, India and the Philippines. Huffman wrote that Reddit plans to expand this feature to over 30 countries going into 2025.

鈥淚n 2024 so far, 鈥楻eddit鈥 was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they鈥檙e turning to Reddit,鈥 Huffman wrote. 鈥淲e 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.鈥

While the company's advertising remains its main source of revenue, Reddit's earnings summary notes its are beginning to pay off financially. Both Google and OpenAI have signed deals with Reddit to train their artificial intelligence models on its content.

San Francisco-based Reddit Inc., whose investors include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, went public in March at $34 a share. Before that, it booked profits in the first quarter of 2021 and fourth quarter of 2023.

Since the initial public offering, the stock has tripled, surging 42% to close Wednesday at $116.05.

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This story has been updated to correct that Reddit turned its first profit since going public, not in its 20-year history.

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