Ellen Pao announced Friday afternoon that she is stepping down from her position as interim CEO of Reddit. The news comes after a week of controversy following the firing of Victoria Taylor, a beloved moderator of the online message board.
Since Taylor's dismissal was made public, legions of Reddit users have rallied against the decision, many of them blaming Pao. On Monday, Reddit management posted an apology, but that did little to calm the storm. A petition calling for Pao's removal has been circulating, with nearly 200,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
In an interview with The New York Times, she said it was issues with the board — not the Reddit community — that led to the mutual decision for her to step down.
“It became clear that the board and I had a different view on the ability of Reddit to grow this year,” she said. “Because of that, it made sense to bring someone in that shared the same view.”
Steve Huffman, who founded Reddit with Alexis Ohanian in 2006, will take over for the time being. Pao will remain on as an advisor to the board until the end of the year.
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