(Kirill Kudryavtsev/Getty Images)

Reddit gains after Q4 revenue and earnings exceed expectations, Q1 sales guidance tops estimates

Reddit reported fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

2/5/26 4:12PM

Social media platform Reddit is jumping in premarket trading after reporting impressive fourth-quarter 2025 earnings after the bell Thursday. The company posted:

Earnings per share of $1.24, beating analysts’ expectations of $0.94. For the same quarter in 2024, Reddit had posted $0.36.
Revenue of $726 million, above the $666 million FactSet analyst consensus estimate and up 70% from last year.
121.4 million “daily active uniques,” up 19% year on year, over Wall Street’s expectation of 120 million.
Sales guidance for Q1 2026 of $595 million to $605 million, above analysts’ estimates of $577 million.

The stock has struggled lately, dropping about 35% year to date amid AI-related market weakness, but the bumper earnings, guidance, and the announcement of a $1 billion share buyback program have investors enthused.

“We’re entering the next era of Reddit — defined by sharper execution, global expansion, and product innovation that puts real people and conversations at the center,” Steve Huffman, Reddit cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. “Our focus is on turning Reddit’s authenticity into even more everyday utility.”

Investors will be looking for reassurance that Reddit can turn its ad platform and data licensing deals into a lasting business.

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Report: OpenAI may tailor a version of ChatGPT for UAE that prohibits LGBTQ+ content

In June of last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared in Abu Dhabi, UAE, alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to announce “Stargate UAE,” a project that includes a 1-gigawatt AI data center in Abu Dhabi, and a commitment to invest in the Stargate USA project.

OpenAI has announced that it is interested in jumping on the “sovereign AI” train, helping countries roll out their own AI services that reflect their own language, culture, and version of history.

Today, Semafor is reporting that OpenAI is in talks to develop a tailored version of ChatGPT for the UAE that would align with the kingdom’s conservative social laws and speech restrictions, such as disallowing discussion of LGBTQ+ content. The UAE-owned MGX investment firm is an investor in OpenAI.

The company announced its OpenAI for Countries initiative in May of last year, which aims to “help interested governments build sovereign AI capability in coordination with the U.S. government — rooted in democratic values, open markets, and trusted partnerships.”

The UAE is a monarchy with a history of human rights violations.

OpenAI’s plan for “democratic AI”

The UAE is a monarchy with a history of human rights violations.

Allen & Co Brings Together Media And Tech Titans In Sun Valley

Analysts think Amazon’s sky-high capex is a good thing, even if there’s “shock value” for investors

That said, several analysts also lowered their price targets for Amazon the day after its downbeat earnings report.

Rani Molla8h

Jon Keegan9h

Big Tech’s $1.1 trillion cloud computing backlog

Now that the big dogs of cloud computing have all reported their quarterly earnings, we can step back and get a sense of the searing demand that AI is driving toward their businesses.

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft each reported hundreds of billions in RPO (remaining performance obligations) — signed contracts for cloud computing services that can’t yet be filled and haven’t yet hit the books.

Collectively, the big three cloud providers reported a $1.1 TRILLION backlog of revenue.

This gargantuan demand could be good news for the “neoscalers” like CoreWeave and Nebius. But even CoreWeave is reporting a substantial backlog of its own — $55 billion last quarter.

Rani Molla

Apple of another’s AI

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Apple is the only Big Tech company whose capex declined last quarter

One of these companies is not like the others.

Apple Headquarters in Cupertino of California

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Big Tech capital expenditure soared in 2025. It’s going up another 50% in 2026.

Last quarter was one for the record books when it came to Big Tech’s purchases of property and equipment. Combined, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta spent nearly $400 billion on capex, sans leases, in total last year, mostly in service of building out the AI infrastructure that they hope will furnish their futures.

And 2026 is only getting more expensive.

The four are expected to spend 50% more in 2026 than in 2025: roughly $600 billion. Amazon said it’s on the hook for $200 billion in capex this year, while Google expects to spend between $175 billion and $185 billion. Not too far behind, Meta estimated its 2026 capex would be $115 billion to $135 billion. Microsoft didn’t give an estimate, but analysts have its 2026 calendar year capex at around $114 billion. However, it should be noted that analysts’ expectations for 2026 were way lower than the reality for the rest.