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Reddit, the social media platform known for its devoted online communities and raucous debates, surprised Wall Street by posting its first profit just months after going public, sending its shares soaring more than 40 percent to a record high.

On a Tuesday call with analysts, Reddit executives said investments in ad technology designed to improve ad performance are paying off, as is the move to use “machine translation” to automatically translate content into languages ​​to grow audiences . . It now has nearly 100 million daily active users, up 47 percent year-over-year in the quarter.

Net income for the company, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March, was $29.9 million in the third quarter, compared with a net loss of $7.4 million in the same period last year, and well above Wall Street estimates of $10 million in the third quarter. to lose.

“As we continue to look to 2025 and beyond, we will look for opportunities to accelerate our roadmap, whether it’s developing new products, expanding globally or growing our advertising business,” said Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit , “all while maintaining our commitment to scaling profitably and making Reddit the go-to place for conversation and community on the internet.”

Reddit’s third-quarter revenue rose 68 percent to $348.4 million, compared to the Wall Street consensus of an increase to $314.8 million. It also forecasts current quarter revenue to be between $385 million and $400 million, above Wall Street expectations.

Huffman said the company would invest in modernizing its search capabilities, including developing “beautiful results pages” and integrating large language models into the results data.

Huffman also said the company wants to support companies, brands and creators who have an official presence on Reddit, marking a new direction for a platform once known for hosting pointed, anonymous conversations and taking a more hands-off approach to moderation.

The White House now has an official account with its new business offering Reddit Pro, he added, and had used it to share crucial information with local communities during the recent US hurricanes.

Huffman, however, seemed more cautious when talking about the licensing deals – to sell its data to tech and AI companies to train their models – it had touted ahead of its stock market listing.

The company had generated particular excitement by citing this as a potential revenue source when it signed deals with Google and later OpenAI.

However, Huffman said on Tuesday that while the company was still in discussions about future deals, they were “limited” in number and mainly with smaller players.

“The story here is that Reddit data is extremely valuable to many players in the market,” Huffman said. “So we’re open for business and finding the right balance between making this information accessible and building our own products on top of it.”