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Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Resigns From Board, Pledges Millions Toward Efforts To “Curb Racial Hate”

Dade Hayes
·3 min read

Click here to read the full article.

Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, has resigned from the company’s board and is recommending his spot be taken by a black candidate.

In addition, Ohanian wrote in a blog post that he would use future gains on his Reddit shares “to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate.” He said he would start with a $1 million pledge to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, which the former NFL quarterback founded in 2016. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this week said he would donate $3 million to the same cause, which now operates in seven U.S. cities.

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The move comes after nearly two weeks of upheaval in the wake of the death of George Floyd at police hands in Minneapolis. Daily protests have continued in several major cities and companies and executives across the business world have sought to respond.

Reddit in 2019 raised $300 million on a $3 billion valuation in a Series D fundraising round led by China’s Tencent.

Ohanian and Williams married in 2017, and their daughter was born that same year.

“It is long overdue to do the right thing,” Ohanian said in a video posted to Instagram (see it below). “I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country. I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?'”

Founded in 2005, Reddit consistently has drawn an avid, young base of core users, with 50% of its 330 million monthly active users as of 2019 falling in the 18-24 age demo. In recent years, the company has worked to clean up and professionalize its network, which has been a popular but rough-hewn and occasionally vitriolic online environment. Although the company does not officially disclose advertising revenue, it reportedly took in more than $100 million from ads for the first time in 2018.

Here’s the video:

View this post on Instagram

I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging. It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country. I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: What did you do? I have resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.

A post shared by Alexis Ohanian Sr. (@alexisohanian) on Jun 5, 2020 at 9:24am PDT

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