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While Reddit\u2019s CEO Steve Huffman has been given a $193 million compensation package, the moderators on the platform are unpaid\u2014and the disparity has not gone unnoticed.\u00a0Since word got out about Huffman\u2019s pay, users on Quora, Reddit, and X<\/a> have been ripping into the package.<\/p>\n \u201cThe feel good moment of simultaneously revealing your CEO is overpaid while your risk assessment underscores the importance of unpaid moderators,\u201d one user wrote in a discussion post on Huffman\u2019s pay on Reddit.<\/a> One of the risk factors Reddit lists in its IPO filing<\/a> is that its results and user experience could be harmed if it were unable to keep a sufficient number of \u201cvolunteer moderators.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your entire business model is one pr-ck taking nearly everything,\u201d another scoffed. \u201cAnd relying on people continuing to work for free.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Huffman has defended his pay packet in a Q&A video<\/a> on the platform.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I\u2019m glad this question was asked because there\u2019s been a lot of commentary on this topic,\u201d he began, adding that his compensation\u2014which is made up of salary and stock\u2014is set by Reddit\u2019s board depending on his performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf the company does well, I will do well,\u201d the CEO added. \u201cIf the company does not do well, I don\u2019t either.\u201d<\/p>\n According to an SEC filing<\/a>, Huffman got a salary of $341,346 in 2023 and a $792,000 \u201cincentive\u201d bonus. In February, Huffman\u2019s salary was raised to $550,000 with the bulk of his\u00a0$193 million compensation package tied to stock.<\/p>\n So why did it look like Huffman got a \u201cbig grant\u201d at the end of 2023? Because, according to Huffman and the company SEC filing, the board canceled his existing stock awards and then granted him a new equity package in late 2023 that included stock, as well as stock options at various escalating strike prices.<\/p>\n \u201cThey did this to simplify things for both the company and me and align my performance with the company\u2019s performance,\u201d Huffman explained.<\/p>\n AM(almost)A answers, but make it video<\/a> \u201cThe way the board thinks of my stock ownership is as a percent ownership of the company\u2014so while I\u2019m a founder of Reddit I also sold my stake a long time ago and I was rehired and have to re-earn my ownership,\u201d he added. \u201cToday I own about 3.2% of Reddit but I have the opportunity to increase my ownership.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reddit\u2019s upcoming IPO could value the company at $6.4 billion<\/a>, meaning\u00a0Huffman\u2019s shares could be in for a sweet boost soon.<\/p>\n CEO compensation is always a contentious issue\u2014especially as while bosses have seen their paychecks soar<\/a> over the years, workers\u2019 wages are currently being outstripped by inflation<\/a> or outpacing it by a small amount<\/a>.<\/p>\n But although Huffman technically answered why he was awarded $193 million last year, he avoided justifying his salary in the context that Reddit\u2019s moderators remain unpaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reddit<\/em> declined Fortune\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Huffman, who is also known by his Reddit username spez, founded the discussion website with his college roommate, Alexis Ohanian, in 2005. At the time, he was on spring break of his senior year at the University of Virginia (UVA), where he studied computer science.<\/p>\n The site\u2019s audience grew rapidly in its first few months and the pair sold Reddit to Conde Nast the next year for $10 million, turning the 23-year-old co-founders into multi-millionaires overnight.<\/a><\/p>\n In hindsight, they have both since expressed regret at selling for such a small amount at the time<\/a>, given the platform\u2019s success.<\/p>\n Huffman then spent several months backpacking in Costa Rica before co-creating the travel website Hipmunk with Adam Goldstein, an author and software developer, in 2010. It was acquired by Concur, the travel and expense platform, for an undisclosed amount in 2016 but just four years later it had shut shop.<\/p>\n In that time, Reddit re-hired Huffman as CEO\u2014in 2015\u2014and tasked him with growing the company, \u201ccreating a clear content policy\u201d<\/a> and stabilizing infrastructure.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Since then he\u2019s taken a hardened stance on hate speech (culminating in the 2020 ban of thousands of communities) redesigned the site and featured on Fortune\u2019s <\/em>40 Under 40 list.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nHuffman\u2019s compensation could see a sweet boost thanks to Reddit\u2019s IPO<\/h2>\n
byu\/rddt_IR<\/a> inRDDT<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWho is Steve Huffman?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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