In 2005, Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, the co-founders of Reddit, had the opportunity of a lifetime when Google offered to buy their new company. At just 22 years old and fresh out of the University of Virginia, Ohanian and Huffman had already raised $82,000 and caught the attention of Chris Sacca, Google’s special initiatives lead at the time.
Sacca flew the young entrepreneurs out to Google headquarters, where they were introduced to the company and even got to experience the famous Google cafeteria. However, despite the allure of Google and its innovative environment, Ohanian revealed on Instagram that they ultimately turned down the offer because it was not significant enough and essentially just an acqui-hire.
Google had plans to combine Reddit with YouTube, with the intention of having Reddit power YouTube comments. Ohanian reflected on what could have been, stating, “YouTube comments could have been Reddit comments.”
Fast forward to today, Reddit has seen tremendous growth and made its public market debut in March with a multi-billion dollar valuation. Despite rejecting Google’s acquisition offer, Reddit and Google have maintained a strong relationship, with Reddit signing a $60 million deal with Google to train its AI on Reddit content.
Ohanian, who stepped down from Reddit’s board in 2020, continues to be active in various discussions and advocacy efforts, including speaking out on the potential TikTok ban in the U.S. and promoting paternity leave and work-life balance as a CEO.