Reddit shares slide 29% on Q4 revenue guidance

Reddit shares declined by 29.22% on October 30 following a fourth-quarter sales forecast of $1 billion to $1.03 billion, missing analyst consensus of $1.05 billion. The drop represents the company’s steepest single-day loss since its 2024 public listing.

The decline occurred despite the company outperforming market expectations for its third-quarter earnings. CEO Steve Huffman attributed the shift to a drop in referral traffic from Google, which he noted is increasingly driven by AI-generated search summaries rather than direct publisher links.

In response to changing traffic patterns, Reddit is considering requiring users to log in to access content. While this move could consolidate the user base, it presents a risk to search engine visibility, as crawlers are generally unable to index content hidden behind login walls.