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On March 28, 2025, Perplexity cofounder and CEO Aravind Srinivas responded on Reddit to speculation about the company’s finances and product changes. He denied that the company was in financial distress or that its Auto mode was designed to cut costs, but the public exchange did not independently verify either the rumors or his assurances.
What prompted Srinivas’s response?
A Reddit user claimed Perplexity was “doing horribly financially” and had “paused all funding for marketing and partnerships.” The user also suggested that product changes were driven by cost cutting. Futurism reported those allegations on March 31, 2025, but the coverage did not establish them as facts. Futurism’s account of the exchange and Srinivas’s Reddit post document the claims and response.
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How did Perplexity explain Auto mode?
Srinivas said users had raised product concerns and acknowledged that rapid company growth brought reliability challenges. He described Auto mode as a way to make the product simpler: instead of asking users to choose how much effort a query needs, the system decides how to route it. He rejected the allegation that Auto mode was a cost-saving deception, writing, “Our goal isn’t to save money and scam you in any way.” That is the CEO’s stated rationale, not an independent assessment of how the feature affected costs.
What did the CEO say about funding, revenue and an IPO?
Srinivas wrote, “We have all the funding we’ve raised, and our revenue is only growing.” He also said, “We have no plans of IPOing before 2028.” These statements describe the company’s position as he presented it in March 2025; they are not audited financial disclosures or independent confirmation of its finances.
What later reporting said about the IPO timeline
A June 2026 report attributed to Reuters said Perplexity was planning to go public in 2028. That reported plan is consistent with the timeline Srinivas had described, but it does not establish the company’s present financial condition or resolve the earlier claims about marketing, partnerships or internal stability. Reuters’ June 2026 report concerns the reported IPO plan.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the exchange does—and does not—show
The record is a user’s allegations, a direct public denial and explanation from the CEO, and later reporting about an IPO timeline. The sources do not independently confirm that Perplexity paused marketing or partnership funding, was in financial distress, or was “disintegrating behind the scenes.” Nor do Srinivas’s assurances independently establish the company’s finances. The headline phrase was a characterization of the allegations, not a verified finding about Perplexity.
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