Rivalry to Partnership: Digg Returns With Reddit Co-Founder Ohanian’s Help
Content aggregator Digg is making a comeback with the help of an unexpected partner: Reddit co-founder and rival Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian and Digg founder Kevin Rose acquired the platform for an undisclosed sum, backed by venture capital firms True Ventures and Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six.
The partnership was announced Wednesday in a video post on the company’s X account, where Rose called it a “team-up he would have never imagined 20 years ago.”
The early web was fun. It was weird. It was community-driven. It’s time to rebuild that.
Which is why @KevinRose & I just bought back @Digg — rival CEOs turned partners!
Just don’t call it nostalgia! This is a necessary evolution. pic.twitter.com/ZnIEcFNq4k
— Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) March 5, 2025
Founded in 2004, Digg gained prominence as a major outlet for trending news by allowing users to rate stories.
Rose famously appeared on the cover of Businessweek in 2006 as the kid who “made $60 million in 18 months.”
The company aims to differentiate itself in the social media market by focusing on AI innovations designed to enhance the user experience and build a human-centered alternative.
Digg plans to create a platform that prioritizes transparency, rewards human effort, and fosters enriching discussions.
Ohanian teased the collaboration on Wednesday, telling X followers that he was “working on something new… but also old… but also very new” and expressed excitement about partnering with Rose.
I’m working on something new… but also old… but also very new… sign up now to get early access! I’m so excited to be working with @kevinrose on this. More to come. https://t.co/dHShNfei8F
— Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) March 5, 2025
At its peak in 2008, Digg was valued at about $160 million, but the rise of Facebook and other social sites caused its traffic to plummet.
Meanwhile, Reddit, founded a year after Digg by Ohanian and current CEO Steve Huffman, emerged as a direct rival by forming communities around types of content and allowing users to rate news stories.
In 2012, Digg’s brand and website were acquired by tech incubator Betaworks for about $500,000. Reddit has continued its ascent, reporting nearly 102 million daily active users at the end of the fourth quarter.
The site gained widespread attention during the 2020 meme stock craze, as retail traders inflicted huge pain on hedge funds shorting stocks using a subreddit known as Wallstreetbets.
Reddit went public on the New York Stock Exchange last March at $34 a share and has seen its stock nearly quintuple. Shares are up about 3% year to date and added 5.9% during Wednesday’s session.
Since stepping down from Reddit’s board in 2020, Ohanian has moved on to other projects. He is currently partnering with billionaire Frank McCourt in a bid for TikTok after President Donald Trump extended the initial deadline for the company’s Chinese-parent ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a ban.
Rose said in a post on X that he and Ohanian “dreamed up features that weren’t even possible with yesterday’s tech.”
The new @digg brings some great nostalgia, but we’re not here to just rebuild the past or clone a competitor. Since @alexisohanian and I left the game, we’ve dreamed up features that weren’t even possible with yesterday’s tech. We’re bringing more transparency and community… pic.twitter.com/uLkKJEgeDc
— Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) March 5, 2025
He added, “The new @digg brings some great nostalgia, but we’re not here to just rebuild the past or clone a competitor.”
CNBC
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