Reddit co-founder resigns from board, pushes company to select a black successor

The co-founder of Reddit announced his resignation from the company's board Friday, saying that stepping down is "the right thing" to do. Alexis Ohanian urged the company to replace him with a black successor.

"I co-founded Reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging," Ohanian said in a video. "It is long overdue to do the right thing. I'm doing this for me, for my family, and for my country."

Ohanian added, "I am saying this as a father who needs to answer his black daughter when she asks, 'What did you do?'" In 2017, Ohanian had a daughter with his wife, tennis star Serena Williams.

"I have resigned as a member of the Reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, and I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I'm starting with a pledge of $1M to Colin Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp," the Reddit co-founder announced.

On Thursday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced he made a $3 million donation to Know Your Rights Camp. The organization has a mission "to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders."

"I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now," Ohanian concluded." To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop."

Ohanian co-founded Reddit with Steve Huffman in 2005. The co-founders sold the company to Conde Nast in 2006; the sale is believed to be between $10 million and $20 million.

Ohanian and Huffman returned to the company full time in 2015. Ohanian stepped down from his daily duties at popular social news aggregator and web forum in 2018, but continued to keep a seat on Reddit's board.

Alexis Ohanian, 37, has a net worth of $9 million, while Serena Williams has an estimated net worth of $180 million.