Yishan Wong has been the Reddit CEO for two and a half years. While his resignation is based on certain personal reasons, such as the stressful and draining aspect of the job, another explanation points to disagreement on the new office location.
Y Combinator president Sam Altman described it as a "disagreement with the board" whenever the topic on the new office location is highlighted as the real reason behind Wong's resignation.
Wong claims that his job as Reddit CEO has been stressful and draining. With these words, people from the online community may sound a bit surprised to learn that the environment of a free-wheeling and irreverent digital news company such as Reddit could also be highly stressful.
"After two and a half years, I'm basically completely worn out," says Wong. He posted his exit memo on Quora.
Wong is not the first CEO to give up such position. There have been high-profile CEO departures that revolved around profound differences in performance, strategy and ethics. There have also been CEOs and board members who have felt worn down and unable to keep the status quo.
While Wong's case falls under the second category, he at least deserves some credit for having the courage to say so.
From a different angle, it was revealed that Wong had wanted to move the office from its current location in San Francisco to Daly City, Calif. He had to figure out the number of employees that were staying on after the move, and whether the employees were also willing to relocate in the first place.
"We had a strategic disagreement wherein I felt that locating an office in San Francisco proper is an incredibly difficult thing given the strains the city is facing and the high rents it imposes on employees who wish to live close to the office," adds Wong.
After resigning, Wong had been tactful and laconic with his words in Twitter and Reddit.
Moving forward, not backward. Upwards, not forward. And always...
— Yishan Wong (@yishan) November 14, 2014
