Fidelity deepens valuation cut for Reddit and Discord

Fidelity has further slashed the estimated worth of its holding in the social platform Reddit and the chat app Discord as well as SaaS startup Gupshup, giving a preview into how one of the world’s largest asset managers sees the impact of the ongoing slowdown in the public market on privately-held startups.

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund valued its holdings in Reddit at $15.4 million as of May 31, according to the fund’s monthly disclosure released Friday. That’s down 7.36% from the $16.6 million mark at April’s closure and altogether a slide of 45.4% since its investment in August 2021. The updated share value suggests a $5.5 billion valuation for Reddit.

Fidelity marked down the value of its Discord’s holding to $1.7 million, down 13.4% from a month ago and 47% since the $3.3 million initial investment. (Worth noting that the vast majority of markdown in the value of Reddit and Discord holdings by Fidelity predominantly occurred last year.)

Reddit, which is currently grappling a revolt from moderators of some popular subreddits over API cost changes, was valued at $10 billion when the social media giant attracted funds in August 2021. Discord raised funding in September 2021 at a valuation of $15 billion.

The financial giant also readjusted the value of its holding in Twitter to $6.86 million, up from $6.55 million from a month prior, but still down 65% since the original investment. It slashed its holding in SaaS startup Gupshup to $10.15 million, down from $11 million at April’s closure and 38% since the original investment.