Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Becomes a Billionaire After Profits and Stock Skyrocket

By: Shawn
‎Tech founders often reach billionaire status rapidly, but Reddit CEO Steve Huffman took a longer path to join the world’s wealthiest. Nearly twenty years after cofounding Reddit, Huffman’s net worth soared to $1.2 billion following the platform’s record-breaking earnings and stock performance.
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Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s net worth hits $1.2 billion as Reddit posts record profits and a 75% stock jump after two decades of growth.
‎Spencer Platt/Staff/Getty Images
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‎Reddit reported a net income of $163 million in its latest quarterly report, marking its fifth straight quarter of profitability since going public in March 2024. Shares climbed 7.5% to close at $208.95, reflecting a 75% increase over the previous year. This milestone marks a dramatic turnaround for the social media giant, which spent most of its two-decade history grappling with profitability challenges.
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‎As one of Reddit’s largest individual shareholders, Huffman holds approximately 3.1 million shares, giving him a 2%–3% stake in the company. His executive compensation package of $193 million includes a $550,000 annual salary and substantial stock-based rewards. Additional wealth comes from an estimated $190 million in cash and investments, according to Forbes.
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‎From Startup Rejection to the “Front Page of the Internet”
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‎The Reddit journey began in 2005 when Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, then University of Virginia students, pitched a food delivery startup idea to Y Combinator. Rejected at first, they reimagined their proposal into a new concept: an online platform serving as the “front page of the internet.” Y Combinator approved, investing $12,000 and providing housing and office support. Huffman coded the site in just 20 days while Ohanian handled operations.
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‎Within 16 months, Condé Nast acquired Reddit for $10 million. The platform soon evolved as users gained the ability to create subreddits, driving engagement across politics, science, and entertainment, though also facing criticism over moderation challenges and controversial content.
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‎By 2009, Huffman and Ohanian departed as their contracts expired. In subsequent years, Reddit confronted scandals surrounding user-generated content. Leadership shifts followed, including CEO Yishan Wong’s efforts to raise $50 million in funding with backing from high-profile investors like Josh Kushner, Jared Leto, Snoop Dogg, and Peter Thiel.
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‎Huffman returned as CEO in 2015, initiating a decade-long restructuring to improve governance, user safety, and monetization. By 2024, Reddit’s IPO launched at $34 per share, peaking intraday at $55.39 and pushing its market capitalization to $38 billion.
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‎Tech Leaders Who Built Billion-Dollar Fortunes Over Time
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‎Steve Huffman’s steady ascent mirrors that of other tech leaders who realized wealth through persistence rather than speed. Dylan Field, cofounder of Figma, dropped out of college in 2012 to build his design software. When Adobe sought to acquire Figma for $20 billion, Field’s ownership translated into a $2 billion fortune, later growing to $5 billion after the company’s IPO.
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‎Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings reached billionaire status in 2014, seventeen years after starting his company. Netflix’s stock surged as its transformation from a DVD-by-mail service to a streaming powerhouse reshaped the entertainment landscape, propelling Hastings’ net worth to $7.5 billion.
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‎Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang offers another example of long-term success. More than two decades after founding Nvidia in 1993, he first entered the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2016 with a $1.4 billion valuation. By pivoting Nvidia’s GPU technology from gaming to artificial intelligence, Huang’s fortune grew alongside the AI revolution, soaring to $176 billion in 2025.

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