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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is one of Reddit’s largest shareholders, according to a regulatory filing on the social news platform’s plans for an IPO.
Altman-affiliated entities hold 8.7% of Reddit’s outstanding shares, according to the S-1 filing, made public on Thursday. That’s 789,456 Class A shares and 11.4 million Class B shares. Reddit’s largest shareholder is Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., part of the Newhouse family’s publishing empire, with about a third of the voting power.
Altman has long-standing ties to the San Francisco social media company. Altman and Reddit cofounders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian were part of the Y Combinator accelerator’s inaugural class in 2005. Altman also briefly served as the company’s interim CEO after former CEO Yishan Wong resigned.
In the filing Thursday, Reddit said it plans to grow its business in part through data licensing deals with AI companies, as well as working on its own AI products. These licensing agreements will allow the company to use its content assets as a major revenue generator. Reddit announced a deal with Google on Thursday that included AI training, but did not announce a partnership with Altman’s OpenAI.