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Reddit's CEO says that he was inspired by Musk's “violent changes” at Twitter

28 points by Nathan2055 3y ago

Nathan2055 3y ago
I was almost certain that this was the case already, but it's interesting that Steve Huffman is now outright admitting that he's taking inspiration from Elon Musk's changes at Twitter, especially since said changes have been widely mocked by most other people in the tech field and have gotten Twitter into thousands (yes, really[1]) of lawsuits and arbitration claims. This likely means that there's no way Huffman will reverse course at this point: he's committed to following the Elon Musk playbook to the letter, hence why he's laying off a substantial amount of Reddit staff[2] and is taking Elon's generally bizarre approach to PR in trying to justify them. My doubts about Reddit's long-term future are now through the roof. [1]: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/16/twitters-lawyers-admit-theyre-overwhelmed-as-nearly-2000-laid-off-employees-file-arbitration-claims/ https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/16/twitters-lawyers-admit-t... [2]: https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-lay-off-about-5-workforce-wsj-2023-06-06/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-lay-off-about-5-wo...
lordfrito 3y ago
[flagged]
arkitaip 3y ago
[flagged]
Duplo 3y ago
[flagged]
newtronic 3y ago
Musk also erased half the market value of Twitter. Is that what Reddit wants to do, cut the valuation in half?
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  It is entirely possible that Reddit's CEO compensation is structured so that any chance at valuation doubling, no matter how unlikely, is worth far more to him than his opportunity cost upon valuation halving, no matter how likely. (in general, if outside investors look for properly aligned incentives, the mathematics of diversification suggests they will arrange for individual portfolio companies to each be run far more riskily than they want their portfolio in aggregate to perform)
- znpy 3y ago
  Twitter was headed straight to bankruptcy though… what would the valuation be, of a bankrupt company?
  - spikels 3y ago
    So is Reddit
  - Timon3 3y ago
    Why do people keep repeating this? Twitter was not heading "straight to bankruptcy". They became profitable in 2018. Due to lawsuits they lost a good amount of money in 2020, but things got better towards 2021 again. They were far from bankruptcy, only since Musk settled them with additional debts are they heading towards it full speed. https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income-of-twitter/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income...
GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
Looks like reddit is pivoting to be more tiktok-like. You don't need much human moderation if you focus on doom-scrolling mindlessly short videos.
- the_only_law 3y ago
  Hope they plan on adding a video player that isn’t utter garbage if that’s the case.
downrightmike 3y ago
Welp, my boycott continues. Really all we can do, that and buy puts after the IPO
sashank_1509 3y ago
He seems to strongly believe Twitter is profitable right now, don’t know where he gets that belief, I thought Twitter was not breaking even
- sidibe 3y ago
  There exists a good chunk of people who for some reason are completely credulous of anything Elon says. If Elon says he's been making great improvements to Twitters business they are going to buy in no matter what we think the evidence shows
  - Zigurd 3y ago
    I don't think Steve Huffman is that dense. I read what he said. My impression is he is trying to be clever, and in the end, look like he executes better than Elon. It's still smarmy.
- downrightmike 3y ago
  Amazon stopped running ads because musk isn't paying his AWS bills. Seems reasonable to pull ad dollars at any slight that musk makes at you.
- smt88 3y ago
  Whether or not Twitter is profitable, revenue has dropped tremendously YoY.
papito 3y ago
There is acknowledging that many tech companies are bloated - and then there is Elon Musk.
guax 3y ago
Elon Musk, the Jack Welch from wish.

28 points by Nathan2055 3y ago

Nathan2055 3y ago

I was almost certain that this was the case already, but it's interesting that Steve Huffman is now outright admitting that he's taking inspiration from Elon Musk's changes at Twitter, especially since said changes have been widely mocked by most other people in the tech field and have gotten Twitter into thousands (yes, really[1]) of lawsuits and arbitration claims. This likely means that there's no way Huffman will reverse course at this point: he's committed to following the Elon Musk playbook to the letter, hence why he's laying off a substantial amount of Reddit staff[2] and is taking Elon's generally bizarre approach to PR in trying to justify them. My doubts about Reddit's long-term future are now through the roof. [1]: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/16/twitters-lawyers-admit-theyre-overwhelmed-as-nearly-2000-laid-off-employees-file-arbitration-claims/ https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/16/twitters-lawyers-admit-t... [2]: https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-lay-off-about-5-workforce-wsj-2023-06-06/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-lay-off-about-5-wo...

lordfrito 3y ago

[flagged]

arkitaip 3y ago

[flagged]

Duplo 3y ago

[flagged]

newtronic 3y ago

Musk also erased half the market value of Twitter. Is that what Reddit wants to do, cut the valuation in half?

082349872349872 3y ago
It is entirely possible that Reddit's CEO compensation is structured so that any chance at valuation doubling, no matter how unlikely, is worth far more to him than his opportunity cost upon valuation halving, no matter how likely. (in general, if outside investors look for properly aligned incentives, the mathematics of diversification suggests they will arrange for individual portfolio companies to each be run far more riskily than they want their portfolio in aggregate to perform)
znpy 3y ago
Twitter was headed straight to bankruptcy though… what would the valuation be, of a bankrupt company?
- spikels 3y ago
  So is Reddit
- Timon3 3y ago
  Why do people keep repeating this? Twitter was not heading "straight to bankruptcy". They became profitable in 2018. Due to lawsuits they lost a good amount of money in 2020, but things got better towards 2021 again. They were far from bankruptcy, only since Musk settled them with additional debts are they heading towards it full speed. https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income-of-twitter/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/274563/annual-net-income...

GartzenDeHaes 3y ago

Looks like reddit is pivoting to be more tiktok-like. You don't need much human moderation if you focus on doom-scrolling mindlessly short videos.

the_only_law 3y ago
Hope they plan on adding a video player that isn’t utter garbage if that’s the case.

downrightmike 3y ago

Welp, my boycott continues. Really all we can do, that and buy puts after the IPO

sashank_1509 3y ago

He seems to strongly believe Twitter is profitable right now, don’t know where he gets that belief, I thought Twitter was not breaking even

sidibe 3y ago
There exists a good chunk of people who for some reason are completely credulous of anything Elon says. If Elon says he's been making great improvements to Twitters business they are going to buy in no matter what we think the evidence shows
- Zigurd 3y ago
  I don't think Steve Huffman is that dense. I read what he said. My impression is he is trying to be clever, and in the end, look like he executes better than Elon. It's still smarmy.
downrightmike 3y ago
Amazon stopped running ads because musk isn't paying his AWS bills. Seems reasonable to pull ad dollars at any slight that musk makes at you.
smt88 3y ago
Whether or not Twitter is profitable, revenue has dropped tremendously YoY.

papito 3y ago

There is acknowledging that many tech companies are bloated - and then there is Elon Musk.

guax 3y ago

Elon Musk, the Jack Welch from wish.