By Niket Nishant and Anirban Sen
(Reuters) - Reddit and its bankers are guiding that they could price the social media platform's initial public offering (IPO) at the top of the indicated range or above, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The San Francisco, California-based company is seeking a valuation of $6.5 billion in the IPO and had indicated it would sell shares at a price between $31 and $34 each. If priced at the top end of that range, the IPO would fetch $748 million for Reddit and its selling shareholders.
Reddit's long-awaited stint as a publicly traded company has been in the works for more than two years. It confidentially filed for its IPO in Dec. 2021, but the stock rout due to the Federal Reserve's quantitative tightening prompted a delay.
Its shares are expected to start trading on Thursday in an eyeball-grabbing debut that will be a major test of the IPO market, where investors are seeing some green shoots, thanks to increasing bets of a soft landing.
Reddit's IPO is between four and five times oversubscribed, Reuters reported on Sunday, making it more likely that the company would achieve the targeted valuation.
To cash in on its popularity among traders, the company has reserved 8% of the total shares on offer for eligible users and moderators on its platform, certain board members and friends and family members of its employees and directors.
Reddit declined to comment. The plans on the pricing were earlier reported by Bloomberg News.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P.Morgan and Bank of America Securities are the lead underwriters for the offering. Shares are expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "RDDT."