Ellen Pao, the interim CEO of Reddit, has resigned from her post after a week marred by ceaseless criticism of her management and decision making.
Taking Pao’s post will be Steve Huffman, who along with Alexis Ohanian, started Reddit in 2005. Pao will remain as an advisor to Reddit’s board until the end of the year.
Pao’s resignation was announced in a post to the /r/announcements Subreddit.
“We’re very happy to have Steve back,” the statement said. “Product and community are the two legs of reddit, and the board was very focused on finding a candidate who excels at both (truthfully, community is harder), which Steve does. He has the added bonus of being a founder with ten years of reddit history in his head.”
The post said Pao’s resignation was by mutual agreement.
After a week of unrest and turmoil following the firing of Victoria Taylor, a prominent Reddit employee, Pao’s resignation comes as no surprise. Over 210,000 dissatisfied users have signed a petition calling for Pao to step down.
Ellen Pao first came to notoriety after her unsuccessful lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The jury ultimately ruled in favor of Kleiner Perkins on all accounts, siting that Pao was fired for poor performance and not being a team player.