Shares of Reddit fell 8% on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had discussed closing Googles Access to its content for the use of artificial intelligence.
Reddit shares have fallen about 25% since the start of the year.
The two companies reached an agreement in 2024 that will allow the search giant to train its AI models on Reddit’s content. But as Google’s AI summaries reduced traffic to sites from the search results page, Reddit is reconsidering the benefits of the deal, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the $60 million per year contract is ending soon and the companies are negotiating a possible renewal of the partnership.
A Reddit spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that the company is approaching the negotiations “as any company should, focusing on doing what’s best for Reddit.”
“Much has changed since we signed these initial contracts, but our goals are the same: to ensure all partnerships advance our business and recognize the unique value of Reddit’s data,” the statement said. “There are a variety of ways to do this; these are all things that we will discuss at the negotiating table.”
CNBC has reached out to Google for comment.
The search traffic trend can also be seen on other websites: Between June 2025 and 2026, Politico’s Google traffic fell 23%, CNN’s fell about 25%, and Business Insider’s fell more than 85%, the Journal reported.
It is part of a patchwork of media and publishing companies that have reassessed their relationships with the biggest AI giants, with some pursuing legal targets to protect their intellectual property as their websites suffer from lower search traffic.
Last year, Chegg sued Google in federal district court, alleging that its AI aggregates of search results hurt the company’s traffic and revenue.
In a statement to CNBC at the time, Google said the company “sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI overviews send traffic to a wider variety of sites.”
Google responded to the Wall Street Journal with a similar statement on Wednesday, saying its AI capabilities help creators and publishers grow their audiences.
Reddit also has a similar partnership with OpenAI, allowing the ChatGPT maker to train its AI models on its content. This is part of Reddit’s data licensing business, which contributed to a rise in profits last quarter.
In the first quarter, the company beat analysts’ expectations after revenue rose 69% year-over-year. It reported earnings per share of $1.01, versus expectations of 58 cents, and revenue of $663 million, versus estimates of $611 million.
“We have important partnerships with both Google and OpenAI,” Reddit CEO Huffman told analysts on the conference call. “It’s very meaningful to us and I think it’s mutual. We continue to appreciate it.”
The company is scheduled to report its second-quarter results on July 30.
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Reddit 5-day stock chart.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/22/reddit-stock-google-ai-content-deal.html
