Reddit CEO: Anyone Using Google Will End Up At Reddit At Some Point
As most of you know, Reddit just reported an impressive earnings statement — and its stock is up 25% since earnings day. But let’s take a closer look at some of the remarks made by Steven Huffman, Reddit’s CEO, during that call.
Here’s the stock chart from the past 5 days:
Reddit Stock
For context, just last quarter, Reddit pointed to Google as a key reason for weaker growth.
Now that the official earnings transcript is out, a few statements stood out — especially around Reddit positioning itself more like a search engine.
Huffman noted:
“And, in fact, I think for most of our users, this is already true, whether they’re running a search on Reddit directly or using a third-party search product and coming to Reddit, which is just about anybody using Google at this point will end up on Reddit at some point. Those users also can be core Reddit users. And so it’s not a stretch to say that our core users are already scrollers and seekers.”
He added that:
“We saw a better traction as the quarter played out. And a combination of intentional work on the product side and marketing and user acquisition all benefited. Traffic from Google varies from week to week. But overall, it was a headwind in Q2.”
Analyst Jason Helfstein asked:
“One, we saw some of our Google testing expanded in more discussions in forum’s results. Can you share any thoughts on that? It would seem like that could be a positive for you?
And then second, any comments on how you think AI Mode impacts or can drive traffic to Reddit? If AI Mode was to kind of become a default versus AI Overviews?”
Steven Huffman responded:
“So, yes, Google is testing lots on their side.
I think their product is evolving rapidly, and that affects everybody in the ecosystem. But I think you’re right. We’ve seen some puts and takes there. But I think there’s a couple of things that are foundational.
It’s why the word Reddit is one of the most searched for terms on Google, because users around the internet go to Google with the intention of ending up on Reddit.
We all know how much we all see Google show Reddit results right now.”
That said, I’ll be honest: I’m not an investment expert, but Reddit feels like a risky stock to me. Over the years, we’ve seen Google heavily rank sites like Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, and others — only to dial them back, cutting massive amounts of traffic overnight. Reddit could face the same risk. (See my past coverage of Reddit here.)
Update: Here’s a look at the traffic trends:
Forum discussion: