Reddit: probable Timeline from pre-IPO SBC (2023) to Dilution Scam Lawsuit

**Summary**: Reddit has created an insider dilution scam that enriches executives while guaranteeing perpetual losses for shareholders. By combining massive pre-IPO giveaways with "Evergreen" dilution, the company is systematically absorbing all free cash flow at the expense of investors. Time is running out for management to fix this scam before the courts or the stock markets do it for them. **Full**: In late 2023 Reddit (Executives, Board, Compensation Committee) cancelled it's Compensation Program and instead implemented a zero-difficulty, max-dilution IPO giveaway scam. The whole dimension of shareholder dilution is difficult to fully grasp. They use all bookkeeping and communication tools available to obscure and hide it. It's a combination of big one-time punches, like the pre-IPO uppercut, combined with the constant pounding delivered by "Evergreen" dilution. A reasonable guess based on a sensible business value might be 5-10 billion just 'taken' pre-IPO, plus a 5% running dilution on top. This can also plausibly be expected to be the current long term plan: One time hits plus running dilution, together averaging double digits, absorbing all Free Cash Flow generated multiple times over. Its a scheme that guarantees perpetual losses for shareholders. It creates almost comical payouts, in the hundreds of millions for multiple executives, without regard for stock or business development. It's a copy of the Snap model. No 'good faith' investor could have expected that. "Evergreen" dilution is an option, and it doesnt have to be called. The SBC program can always be adjusted, just as it did in 2023, when the existing one was without explanation deemed to ‚not provide the incentives‘, with the new one allegedly ‚aligning insider and shareholder interests‘ (this punchline can never be left out by Silicon Valley comedians). Reddit is neither a startup that needs new capital, nor a company that has big capex. Its a somewhat mature, established business that by now generates good Cash. However, as currently constructed, it's an insider dilution scam. Investors generally took a patient approach, waiting for the IPO dust to settle and look at the dilution picture unfolding. By late 2025 however it became clear that they had been cheated. Part of the problem is a general SBC accounting flaw: The expense is booked at grant date value. So Reddit still mostly lists Share Based Compensation at 2023 prices ($25). In 2025, the ture cost of Share Based Compenstion at Market Value have been 1.8bn, but in the earnings report SBC just accounted for 340m. So using market value would have swung the reported "profit" of 500m for the year to a loss of close to a billion. Being confronted with these issues, Reddit executives in December of 2025 stated that they hit the ‚under‘ on a dilution 'goal' of 1-3% in 2025. This goal in itself is nonsensical: If buybacks enter the picture (as they do now), it encapsulates a range of 500%. Also, this statement by executives was false. It misrepresented the effective dilution happening to a significant degree. The Stock Market seems to have finally caught up to this dilution scheme and has started discounting the stock. Reddit so far has been lucky. The lawyers covering the company have been just as inept as the analysts. They look at all the wrong metrics and make up random nonsense. This wont be the case this time around, as Reddit should expect a ‚Dilution Scam' lawsuit to hit home. The best time to act on it would be now. It always is, in addressing a problem. The Q1 earnings call in May 2026 could reasonably be expected to be the last chance for Reddit to update it’s Share Based Compensation scheme and its ‚guidance‘ regarding dilution on its own terms.