Oct 30 (Reuters) - Reddit shares tumbled 29% on Friday, marking their biggest single-day drop and hitting their lowest level in over a year, after the company warned that Google’s AI-powered search was hurting referral traffic and could shrink its user base.

The online discussion platform still appears in Google search results but is attracting fewer clicks, as users increasingly rely on the tech giant’s AI tools for direct answers.

“When more than a million search referrals a week disappear because Google’s AI answers the question itself, investors are no longer looking just at the next three or four months, but at how much of Reddit’s audience it will really own in the years ahead,” said Vitor Madeira, senior market specialist at Capital.com.

Reddit warned that its daily active unique visitors could fall by a low double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter if referral traffic kept declining.

If current losses hold, Reddit is set to lose more than $7 billion in market value and Pinterest about $900 million. The two stocks have fallen about 44% and 23%, respectively, this year through their last close.

Reddit has a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, compared with Snap’s 7.53 and Pinterest’s 8.48, according to LSEG data.

Separately, Reddit on Friday said it has extended its cloud services agreement with Google through 2029, committing to spend $580 million over three years.

At least 11 brokerages cut their price targets on Reddit, and at least 13 did so on Pinterest.

  • zeppo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Oh no, hope Spez still has money to maintain a cadre of slaves on a billionaire island (since he’s a natural leader and everything)

  • Kyden Fumofly@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Whats the point to appear in google search, when you gonna lock your platform to have accounts to view the content… Just asking.

  • luna@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Reddit’s failure was inevitable; once capital exerts excessive control, it’s time for people to leave. Everyone has surely had the infuriating experience of being bombarded by trashy ads on Reddit often with no human customer support available to address complaints. It has become a hub overrun by bots and scams; when you enter a subreddit, almost everything you see is just bots.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      We really do need to get back to a tech landscape where evil ceos are shunned and their products not used. We have tolerated the spez, musk, thiel, zuckerburg, ellison, bankman-fried, elizabeth holmes, Kalanich (uber), baszuskis (roblox) types for way too long. They are all a bunch of mega pricks and their companies should pay a penalty for their being openly evil.

  • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Good.

    I enjoyed pre-COVID Reddit, where you could find all political stripes and religions, a virtual “melting pot”.

    Today? It’s like Lemmy but with advertising. So much more homogeneous, and the moderators are deranged. Let them rule their dying empire with furry fists, have at it, it’s yours now

    Reminded now, right before I left Reddit I was banned from r/pics for being a member somewhere that they don’t approve of, I can no longer recall which sub but it was lightly Republican flavored (my favorite political adversaries).

    Why would they care? How would they know what the sub was intolerable without joining themselves? Why didn’t they ban themselves then? They were despoiled, like me.

    Senseless. I haven’t visited since the login requirement, piss off

    • VeniVerminiVomui@lemmy.ml
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      6 days ago

      Today? It’s like Lemmy but with advertising. So much more homogeneous

      Might have been a while since you visited it then, it’s getting increasingly absurdly right wing - mostly bots I’m guessing. Pretty much all of the main /r/all subs

      • Absurdly Stupid @lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Yeah I haven’t been there for a couple of years. When I left it was a Democratic stronghold that had banned The Donald. Not as hard left as Lemmy, but close.

        My ideal place would be “neutral” with all flavors, but I haven’t found anything like old Reddit yet, so I am taking a sabbatical here for as long as I am tolerated (probably another week)

        • kreskin@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          Your posts here get banned for anti muslim hatred and terroristic zionism. Hopefully it wont take a whole week for a siteban for people like you.

  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    It’s still surprising to me that 2 years later, it’s still double the value it was when it went public.

    There was never any believable story where they would go public and become profitable.

  • a_jeering_serpent@sopuli.xyz
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    7 days ago

    “a low double-digit percentage“ sure is a funny way to say 10-49%, and that since it represents fully 40% of the possible values (also known as ”a low double-digit percent”) it is a worthless non statement.

  • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    “When more than a million search referrals a week disappear because Google’s AI answers the question itself,

    investors are no longer looking just at the next three or four months, but at how much of Reddit’s audience it will really own in the years ahead,”

    said Vitor Madeira, senior market specialist at Capital.com.


    Personally I am glad investors are worried they wont own enough users.

  • braindead_hottie@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I haven’t used Reddit with an account for months because they’re dead set on attaining my ID just to give me access to my damn account