Ellen Pao out as Reddit CEO

Jessica Guynn | USA TODAY



SAN FRANCISCO — Capping a stormy and controversial stint as interim CEO of online message board Reddit, Ellen Pao has resigned from the company.

Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman will replace her as CEO, putting the leadership of the popular service back in the hands of those who dreamed it up.

The San Francisco company made the announcement Friday. Reddit said the parting of ways was a mutual decision.

"Clearly there have been some challenges, but I would not characterize (the recent uproar) as the driving force here," Sam Altman, a Reddit board member, said in an interview.

Frustration with Pao from the Reddit community reached a boiling point in recent weeks with a mass online protest. Pao apologized this week to the Reddit community which was in an uproar over the firing of popular staffer Victoria Taylor. Taylor, who worked with Reddit moderators, was dismissed from Reddit without explanation.

More than 200,000 Reddit users signed an online petition calling for Pao's removal.

Huffman, chief technology officer at travel company Hipmunk, has not had an official role at Reddit in years, but will likely be welcomed by the Reddit community, some of whom had grown increasingly vocal about their opposition to her efforts to tame the service's wilder elements.

"We are thankful for Ellen's many contributions to Reddit and the technology industry generally. She brought focus to chaos, recruited a world-class team of executives, and drove growth. She brought a face to Reddit that changed perceptions, and is a pioneer for women in the tech industry," Altman said in a statement. "She will remain as an adviser to the board through the end of 2015. I look forward to seeing the great things she does beyond that."

Pao became a high profile figure in Silicon Valley after bringing an unsuccessful gender discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The lawsuit highlighted the lack of diversity in venture capital, especially in Silicon Valley.

In his statement to the Reddit community, Altman pledged better communication and clearer guidelines.

"You deserve better moderation tools and better communication from the admins," he wrote. "You deserve clarity about what the content policy of Reddit is going to be. The team will create guidelines to both preserve the integrity of Reddit and to maintain Reddit as the place where the most open and honest conversations with the entire world can happen."

But Altman also took issue with the sometimes vitriolic responses to Pao on Reddit. Pao, who tried to curb abusive behavior on Reddit, was the frequent target of attacks by Reddit members, who are predominantly young men. Her lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins only fueled the fire.

"The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world. People are still people even if there is Internet between you," Altman wrote. "If the Reddit community cannot learn to balance authenticity and compassion, it may be a great website but it will never be a truly great community."

Not everyone thought Pao was on the wrong track trying to police some of the more extreme voices on Reddit.

Commented Ars Technica technology editor Peter Bright in a tweet: "Things Ellen Pao did wrong at Reddit: 1. try to make it less vile."

Reddit is an online message board with nearly 10,000 discussion forums on a wide variety of topics known as subreddits. Reddit attracts 164 million visitors each month. Huffman started Reddit with co-founder Alexis Ohanian in a small apartment in a Boston suburb a decade ago.

In an interview, Altman said he was confident that Huffman, who served as CEO from 2005 to 2009, could tackle the most pressing issues facing Reddit: building its nascent advertising business and creating moderator tools to help Reddit volunteers curb abusive behavior. Also on Huffman's to do list: Working on a mobile app and website for Reddit.

Huffman will take on the role as Reddit CEO while keeping his other gig at Hipmunk. Altman said he was not worried about Huffman's ability to juggle both.

"I think it's wonderful when you can get someone with deep product experience and someone with deep community experience. And when you can get those two things in the original founding CEO and you can get that founder back, that is really awesome," Altman said.

Huffman addressed the Reddit community on — where else — Reddit.

"I've got five years of ideas stacked up, and I'm looking forward to getting to work," Huffman said. "I really hope I live up to everyone's expectations. The good ones, at least."