Meme stock brokers are already all over Reddit's sly IPO filing

Reddit officially submitted the necessary paperwork for an initial public offering (IPO) — a move the company has been working towards for what feels like forever. And, because this is Reddit we’re talking about, the meme stock brokers have already made a commitment to send the stock’s price to the moon.

The exact figure Reddit will seek in its IPO has yet to be announced. “We are in a quiet period, and for regulatory reasons, we cannot say anything further,” the company wrote in its announcement. Back in August, the company set its value at $10 billion — not quite a Meta, but certainly nothing to sneer at.

The WallStreetBets subreddit, made infamous by the GameStop meme craze from January, is mostly bullish on Reddit’s stock market debut. Not everyone in the subreddit is pleased by the news, but many have already decided to rally behind the company that houses their community. “Tradeoff: Reddit becomes even worse but you might make a shit ton of money,” one user wrote.

That’s the main concern Redditors have across the board. Becoming a public company could drastically alter the site millions flock to for community.

Reddit to the moon! — The WallStreetBets subreddit is a very mixed bag of memes and vitriol. It’s home to millions of people (11.3 million, at last count) willing to risk the clothes on their back to inflate random stock prices.

The community’s existence has been the subject of much controversy in the tight-collared world of day traders. But it’s also been successful in its mission, at times even managing to save dying companies from the brink of bankruptcy.

Users are predicting that Reddit stock will be an instant hit in WallStreetBets. And why wouldn’t it be?

Not everyone’s happy — Reddit’s IPO isn’t without its risks, though, something the WallStreetBets subreddit is intimately aware of. Moving the company away from a private business model could theoretically change the site’s entire structure. Some users have latched onto this as an opportunity to take the helm themselves (“If we all brought shares we could control Reddit. Just sayin’,” one user commented) — though others think it will afford new investors too much power.

“I predict porn subreddits shutting down soon after,” another user wrote. Others worried they might be forced to stop using ableist slurs.

Investors outside WallStreetBets will find interest in Reddit’s revenue streams, which have somehow managed to increase significantly in the last few years. Reddit brought in $100 million in advertising revenue this year, a 192 percent increase from the last.