Redditors and various media outlets have unleashed a wave of criticism against Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman following the disclosure of his eye-popping compensation package totaling $193 million in 2023.
This staggering figure became public information once the social media company filed for its initial public offering (IPO) at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 22. Reddit is preparing to launch its IPO this week.
In a recent video shared on his social media platform, Huffman stood firm in defense of his compensation package. According to calculations by Quartz, his earnings surpass the combined pay packages of CEOs at Pinterest, Snap, and Meta.
While Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Evan Spiegel of Snap receive nominal base salaries of $1, based on their most recent SEC filings, Pinterest’s Bill Ready commands a salary of $400,000. Huffman’s salary stands at approximately $340,000, having been increased to $550,000 in February.
This makes Zuckerburg’s salary a staggering 7 times lower than that of Huffman, but let’s not forget that Zuckerburg also earns a significant amount from his shares in Meta thanks to a majority stake. He makes hundreds of millions of dollars through dividends. Furthermore, Meta covers the expenses for Zuckerberg’s security arrangements and private jet travel.
Spiegel may be the lowest-earning CEO in the tech sphere at the moment. But back in 2017, he held the distinction of earning the most among all CEOs with an astonishing $638 million pay package, putting him ahead of even Elon Musk, who owns multiple major tech companies including Tesla, SpaceX, and others. Musk became one of the richest men on the planet in 2021.
Spiegel’s gigantic salary in 2017 was disclosed through his SEC filing as Snap prepared for its IPO, and the CEO was heavily criticized for it. Snap announced Spiegel’s future base salary as $1, a commitment he has upheld since then.
Huffman is currently positioned as a frontrunner in CEO compensation, and there’s potential for him to further boost his earnings by selling shares during Reddit’s forthcoming initial public offering scheduled for Thursday.
