Reddit: Social media platform files to go public

Social media platform Reddit has announced that it has started the process to sell its shares on the stock market.

In a confidential filing, it did not reveal how many shares it planned to sell or the price of the shares.

In August, the company said it had raised $700m (£528m) in new funding, valuing it at more than $10bn.

Reddit was at the centre of the so-called "meme stock" phenomenon earlier this year.

"The initial public offering is expected to occur after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions," Reddit said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earlier this year, investors flocked to the San Francisco-based firm's messaging board for tips on trading stocks like US video game retailer GameStop and the AMC cinema chain - known as "meme stocks", those that gain popularity through sites like Reddit.

Stocks that often became popular were ones that had been heavily bet against by professional investors, such as hedge funds.

As a result some of these shares saw their prices rise and fall sharply in hugely volatile trade.

In August, co-founder and chief executive Steve Huffman told the New York Times that Reddit was "still planning on going public" but didn't have a firm timeline, adding, "All good companies should go public when they can."

The following month the company was looking at a valuation of more than $15bn, according to the Reuters newswire.

Reddit, which was founded in 2005, had around 52 million daily users as of August this year.

Earlier this year, the firm said it planned to double its workforce by the end of 2021 to about 1,400 staff.

Reddit's biggest financial backers include Chinese technology Tencent, Fidelity Investments and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.