For the first time in its nearly 20-year history, Reddit is turning a profit.
The social platform claimed a profit of $29.9 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ending in September, and reported sales of $348.4 million, an amount surpassing the $312.8 million analysts had projected. Reddit also grew its number of daily users to 97.2 million, a 47% increase from the same time last year, according to a company statement.
In a letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said its new AI translation feature — which allows readers to convert posts between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German — was a primary driver of user growth, especially internationally in countries like France, India and the Philippines. Huffman wrote that Reddit plans to expand this feature to over 30 countries going into 2025.
“In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they’re turning to Reddit,” Huffman wrote. “We saw this play out in real-time when the White House came to Reddit to share critical information during recent hurricanes, reaching people in the affected areas with timely updates.”
While the company’s advertising remains its main source of revenue, Reddit’s earnings summary notes its recent data licensing agreements are beginning to pay off financially. Both Google and OpenAI have signed deals with Reddit to train their artificial intelligence models on its content.
Reddit, whose investors include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, went public in March at $34 a share. The stock has since tripled, surging 34% to $110.20 in morning trading Wednesday.
Amazon reports boost in quarterly profits, exceeds revenue estimates as it invests in AI
Amazon reported a boost in its quarterly profits Thursday and exceeded revenue estimates, sending the company's stock up in after-hours trading.
For the three months that ended on Sept. 30, the Seattle-based tech giant posted a revenue of $158.9 billion, higher than the $157.28 billion analysts had expected.
Amazon said it earned $15.3 billion, higher than the $12.21 billion industry analysts surveyed by FactSet had anticipated. Amazon earned $9.9 billion during the same period last year. Earnings per share were $1.43, higher than analysts' expectations of $1.14.
Net sales increased 11% compared with the third quarter of 2023, Amazon said.
Thursday's report offers a last look at Amazon's business before the start of the holiday shopping season, the busiest time of year for the retail industry.
"As we get into the holiday season, we're excited about what we have in store for customers," said Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO. "We kicked off the holiday season with our biggest-ever Prime Big Deal Days and the launch of an all-new Kindle lineup that is significantly outperforming our expectations; and there's so much more coming."
The company said it expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $181.5 billion and $188.5 billion, compared with the $186.29 billion forecast by analysts.
The better-than-expected earnings come after Amazon missed revenue estimates last quarter,.
Amazon reported its core online retail business pulled in $61.41 billion in revenue this in the third quarter. Those figures include sales from the company's popular Prime Day shopping event held in July. Though Amazon does not disclose how much revenue comes from the 48-hour shopping bonanza, it said this year's event resulted... Read More