Prominent Tech and Media Figures Who Have a History of Loving Reddit

Bill Gates" width="970" height="684" data-caption='Bill Gates hosts a Reddit AMA session every year.  <span class="lazyload media-credit">Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for The New York Times</span>'>

Reddit made its long-awaited public debut yesterday (March 21) and closed its first trading day with a market cap of $9.5 billion. Reddit is the first major social media company to go public since Pinterest’s NYSE listing in 2019. But it differs from rival social platforms in a major way: the site serves as a rare public forum where users of common interests gather to discuss various topics under online communities known as “subreddits.”

One of Reddit’s most popular subreddits called “Ask Me Anything,” or AMA, which has been used by prominent figures in tech, media and politics to reach audiences with the premise of an unfiltered Q&A.

Many tech celebrities and media personalities have hosted multiple AMAs. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, for example, has done it 11 times as an annual tradition. The late chef and travel show host Anthony Bourdain did two AMAs in 2013 and 2016, respectively, speaking candidly about his favorite foods, addiction and life reflections. In 2013, one user asked Bourdain to name something he never wanted to taste again. His answer: Methadone.   

Reddit cofounders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian have also used the subreddit to address questions raised by the site’s users.

Other notable media figures who have hosted multiple AMAs:

• Gordon Ramsay, chef and restaurateur
• Neil deGrasse Tyson, physicist and author
• Marques Brownlee, tech blogger and YouTuber
• Bernie Sanders, U.S. senator from Vermont
• Leah Remini, actress
• Macaulay Culkin, actor
• Edward Snowden, computer intelligence consultant and whistleblower
• Jon Stewart, TV host and political commentator

Prominent figures who have hosted at least one AMA:

• Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks: Assange did an AMA in 2017. But instead of answering questions submitted on the platform, he talked through them on a Twitch livestream, which wasn’t very well received as participants thought he was trying to avoid answering those questions. The year before, Assange’s WikiLeaks staffers did a separate AMA on Reddit.
• Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and other companies: Musk did an AMA in 2016, in which he answered questions about SpaceX rockets and his plan to colonize Mars. 
• steve wozniak, Apple co-founder: Wozniak did a Reddit AMA in 2016 and answered questions about Apple CEO Tim Cook, his relationship with the company after leaving it in the 80s and his best pranks. 
• Ann Coulter, author: The conservative media pundit and author had an unsurprisingly controversial time on Reddit in 2013. The Washington Post noted it on a listicle of celebrity AMAs gone wrong. 
• Barack Obama, former U.S. President: Obama answered questions in a 2012 AMA concerning topics ranging from student loans to a request for the recipe for White House beer.