Reddit CEO Steps Down After Weeks of Controversy

Ellen Pao, the interim CEO of Reddit, has officially resigned from her position. The announcement came after a troubled tenure, including the firing of a Reddit employee that initiated Reddit users to effectively shut down several message boards this past weekend.

The full statement over Pao's resignation is posted on Reddit, written by Sam Altman, a Reddit board member and president of Y Combinator.

Pao, who recently lost a high-profile gender discrimination case earlier this year against her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a venture capital firm, believes this is the right move. "It became clear that the board and I had a different view on the ability of Reddit to grow this year," Pao said to The New York Times. "Because of that, it made sense to bring someone in that shared the same view."

In addition to statement from Altman, Pao has posted her own message on Reddit, thanking users for positive messages amid all the negativity she was receiving these past few weeks. "And thank you for sending cute animal pics and encouraging me to "Stay safe!" when the site overheated with expressions of hate in various forms," she wrote. "There were some days when your PMs inspired me more than you can imagine."

It's no surprise Pao included this tidbit, since Reddit users for weeks, have increasingly used hateful language and images against her. Many of the decisions around the site's policies, including shutting down several reddit forums in accordance with a new harassment policy, were entirely blamed on her. A petition also garnered over 200,000 signatures asking for her to step down from her role.

The news did come as a huge surprise on Friday afternoon, considering Pao posted a lengthy statement on Reddit, just four days ago, apologizing to users and promising to fix the situation at the company. Steve Huffman, a co-founder of Reddit and the original CEO, will take over her role.