Reddit’s profit jumps to $253M as search referral traffic turns volatile

Reddit said on Thursday that it had a net income of $253 million in the second quarter. That’s about three times the $89 million it earned a year earlier.

But executives warned that search-engine traffic grew choppy late in the quarter, a weak spot for a company betting on turning its giant audience into daily users.

Reddit’s revenue climbed 61% for an eighth straight quarter

The headline numbers were released on the July 30 earnings call and were strong across the board. Total revenue was up 61% to $805 million from a year ago. That was the eighth straight quarter with growth above 60%. Advertising revenue jumped 64% to $762 million, with the company citing higher ad prices and more impressions.

Adjusted EBITDA was $343 million, a 43% margin, up more than 100% year-over-year. Diluted earnings per share were $1.25. The company’s cash flow from operations was $262 million in the quarter, bringing the trailing-twelve-month figure to over $1 billion for the first time, CFO Andrew Vollero told analysts. Reddit projects revenue of $860 million to $870 million for the current quarter.

Reddit also introduced its first true shareholder-return program. It spent $235 million to repurchase 1.5 million shares at an average price of $157.57 each.

COO Jennifer Wong pointed to advertiser wins. The volume of conversions more than doubled, and the volume of clicks was up over 30% year on year. The active advertiser base increased by more than 70%. Reddit hit a milestone of $1 million in revenue per employee on a trailing-twelve-month basis. And in the next quarter, it will no longer break out logged-in vs. logged-out daily users.

Today, we shared Reddit’s Q2’26 earnings results. A few highlights:

Revenue: $805M (+61% YoY)
Weekly Active Uniques: 514M+ (+24% YoY)
8th consecutive quarter of GAPP profitability
Ad revenue: +64%

For more: https://t.co/aDAoYR8DKY

— Reddit, Inc. (@Reddit) July 30, 2026

Reddit’s search referrals turned volatile late in the quarter

Weekly active uniques topped 500 million for the first time at 514.6 million. Daily active uniques increased 18% to 130.3 million. The management said search referrals became less predictable as the quarter wore on, blunting some of the daily-user gains that product work had generated.

“Visibility into referral traffic remains low,” said CEO Steven Huffman, adding that search-driven visits were volatile towards the end of the period. Reddit has long relied on traditional search links, and he said that “AI overviews has yet to make a similar level of positive impact.” Vollero said that “user acquisition spending needs stronger attention to improve returns” as Reddit weighs paid marketing against brand.

Reddit’s caution comes during an earnings season when Wall Street has shown little patience for soft spots. Cryptopolitan reported that Microsoft jumped 8% after topping revenue and profit estimates, while Meta dropped 10% the same week as costs surged and profit disappointed.

Alphabet shares slid after the company revealed its first free-cash-flow deficit in decades and raised its 2026 capital-spending forecast to as high as $205 billion, according to Cryptopolitan.