Reddit, the popular web site that lets users submit its own news items, is now entering a new era. Today the site announced that it will become a stand alone company once again as it is spun off from its previous owners Condé Nast. However the site isn"t really leaving the fold. Instead of being a subsidiary of Condé Nast (which also owns Wired magazine, ArsTechnica.com and other web sites) Reddit will now be a company owned and operated by Advance Publications, which also owns Condé Nast.
So what will this change mean to Reddit? According to the official announcement, this move will allow the site to "have much more operational freedom than when we were a division of Condé Nast." It has started looking for a CEO to run the new organization. It will also have a board of directors that will consist of members of both Advance Publications and Condé Nast. The board has also brought in Alexis Ohanian, one of Reddit"s original co-founders. In a Google + post, Ohanian states, "reddit has become the engine for creating innovative and influential communities online. I"ll do everything I can to help and guide the reddit, Inc. team and our CEO to grow true to the vision we"ve had since that summer of 2005."
The site has grown significantly since that 2005 launch by Ohanian and the site"s other co-founder Steve Huffman. AllThingsD.com reports that Reddit now has 20 million visitors which generate a massive 1.5 billion page views a month.