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The End May Be Nigh For TikTok, Reddit’s Long-Awaited IPO Registry Is Finally Coming

Author

Joshua Packard
March 13, 2024

The End May Be Nigh For TikTok

A bill proposing a national ban on TikTok was advanced unanimously by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last Thursday.

The bill follows past talks, conspiracies and investigations into spying by China through the media platform.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has been accused of spying on the app’s users and collecting their data. The US government is demanding that ByteDance remove itself from the popular app.

Current Situation

At present, only federal government employees are forbidden from using TikTok on agency-owned devices, following Biden’s signing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Biden wholeheartedly backs the bill and will sign it into law if passed.

Asked about the action, Biden stated without uncertainty, “...If they pass it, I'll sign it.”

Meanwhile, TikTok has protested the bill, citing it as a front against the First Amendment, said TikTok spokesman, Alex Haurek.

"This bill is an outright ban of TikTok, no matter how much the authors try to disguise it. This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs."

Politics of the Proposed Ban

Meanwhile and interestingly, Trump, a previous advocate of the ban, now favors American use of TikTok, reasoning that a ban will help Facebook–a social media platform he has outspokenly been against. This highly goes against the grain and opinions of other Republicans, though the proposal appears fairly bipartisan.

House Majority Leader, Steve Scalise, has said the bill will come to a vote by the Congressional House this week. Until then, arms are up in the air as to whether the downfall of TikTok really is at hand.

Final Upcoming Decision

If the current bill is fully passed, ByteDance would have 165 to sell TikTok. If it fails to do so within that time frame, TikTok will be illegal on all digital devices in the US, while its presence on American app stores will be prohibited.

Reddit’s Long-Awaited IPO Registry Is Finally Coming

The largest forum on the web, Reddit, has announced (to great excitement and anticipation) that it will now be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Following the public offering, its goal valuation will be $6.5 billion. 

Reddit will be the first social media platform to enter the stock market since Pinterest in 2019.

Expected Gain

Reddit hopes to earn $750 million once it offers stock. The company will offer upwards of 15 million shares to the public. It estimates its cost per share to be anywhere in the range of $31 to $34.

In an atypical move, for moderators who joined the forum before Jan. 1, Reddit has set aside almost two million shares of stock. This special offering will allow said shareholders to sell their stock within six months of the IPO, if they so desire: an action generally not permitted with other starting IPOs.

Steve Huffman explains the unorthodox decision.

"We hope going public will provide meaningful benefits to our community as well. Our users have a deep sense of ownership over the communities they create on Reddit," said Huffman.

Reddit’s ticket symbol on the NYSE will be “RDDT”. It is set to be listed Mar. 21, 2024.

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