As Reddit (RDDT)’s traffic has boomed, rumors have swirled that Conde Nast may be shopping the site around to prospective buyers. Suspicions that something big is in the works came yesterday, when Conde Nast shelled out for 285 Reddit related domain names.
Once upon a time relations between the social news site and its publishing parent were very strained, with Reddit publicly blogging about the lack of resources.
Since then the team has expanded in size and founders like Alexis Ohanian have been brought back on board to consult. The site’s IAMA Q&A sessions have become a popular platform for celebrities and even politicians to engage with a large audience online.
All Things D’s Peter Kafka reported that Conde was mulling a sale of Reddit for as high as $200 million, citing sources and the sites explosive growth.
The purchased domains seem ready made for an expansion of verticals categorizing news and entertainment: travelreddit.com, soccerreddit.com, redditbiz.com and many others.
Even if this is just a sign of good housekeeping and not a harbinger of a big sale or spin off, it bodes well for Reddit. Conde is recognizing what a powerful property is has on its hands and might be trying to cut down on sites phishing traffic off related domains. Creating a separate domain for different topics, like sexreddit.com, will also go a long way to improving the sites ranking on search.
