Imagine how differently this would have played out if Reddit CEO Steve Huffman had taken a collaborative approach with app developers and stake holders. A few months ago, he could have called them up and humbly asked them for ideas and assistance in making Reddit profitable. Reddit would be on path to financial success by now.
It's a corporate us vs them mentality. I don't think Steve would even ask his own employees for help - the people who are on the ground running the company. The internal memo strongly indicates that Reddit doesn't have a two-way communication channel with leadership.
I don't think it's wrong for Spez to charge for API access, but the rates he's vowing to charge are excessive and clearly designed to nuke third-party apps from their ecosystem.
As for how I'd make money from Reddit in his shoes, I'd:
Add more features for Reddit Premium, like being able to view more than 1,000 items on the front page, video uploads in comments, or enhanced search functionality.
Add OnlyFans-style subscriptions or revenue sharing for partnered subreddits/users, with a 90% to 10% cut between content creators and Reddit.
Bring back RPAN as a full time streaming platform to compete with the likes of Twitch/Kick.