NEW YORK (AP) — Reddit has turned a profit for the first time as a public company.

The social platform claimed a profit of $29.9 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ending in September, and reported sales of $348.4 million, an amount surpassing the $312.8 million analysts had projected. Reddit also grew its number of daily users to 97.2 million, a 47% increase from the same time last year, according to a company statement.

In a letter to shareholders, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said its new AI translation feature — which allows readers to convert posts between English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German — was a primary driver of user growth, especially internationally in countries like France, India and the Philippines. Huffman wrote that Reddit plans to expand this feature to over 30 countries going into 2025.

“In 2024 so far, ‘Reddit’ was the sixth most Googled word in the U.S., underscoring that when people are looking for answers, advice, or community, they’re turning to Reddit,” Huffman wrote. “We saw this play out in real-time when the White House came to Reddit to share critical information during recent hurricanes, reaching people in the affected areas with timely updates.”

While the company’s advertising remains its main source of revenue, Reddit’s earnings summary notes its recent data licensing agreements are beginning to pay off financially. Both Google and OpenAI have signed deals with Reddit to train their artificial intelligence models on its content.

San Francisco-based Reddit Inc., whose investors include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, went public in March at $34 a share. Before that, it booked profits in the first quarter of 2021 and fourth quarter of 2023.

Since the initial public offering, the stock has tripled, surging 42% to close Wednesday at $116.05.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For the first time since 1938, children in Des Moines, Iowa, will go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Going door-to-door for candy on All Hallows’ Eve has long been commonplace throughout the country. But not in Des Moines, where Iowa’s capital city took a different approach more than seven decades ago in hopes of tamping down on hooliganism.

Instead, Des Moines children don their costumes on Beggars’ Night, typically the day before Halloween. And besides screaming, “Trick-or-Treat,” children are expected to tell a joke before receiving a treat.

This year, Beggars’ Night was set for Wednesday, but because of expected heavy rain and thunderstorms, officials delayed trick-or-treating until Thursday, which to the rest of the country is the normal Halloween.

“To my knowledge, it has never been moved or canceled since it was established after Halloween in 1938,” Assistant City Manager Jen Schulte said. “However, the safety of our residents, families and children is always our top priority and led to the change in this year’s scheduled Beggars’ Night.”

The city began its unusual custom at the suggestion of a former city parks director as a way to reduce vandalism and promote more wholesome fun for kids. Initially, children were encouraged to sing a song, recite poetry and offer some other kind of entertainment, but over time a joke became the most common offering.

Beggar’s Night also has limited hours, typically running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Many of Des Moines’ suburbs also adopted the Beggars’ Night tradition and chose to shift the celebration to Halloween this year.

“I didn’t realize we were that much of an anomaly because for us, this is normal,” said Debbie Westphal Swander, who owns a costume shop in West Des Moines. “We’re going to be in sync at least for this year with the way the event is celebrated everywhere else.

“The big picture for me is, it’s absolutely about the kids. That’s the most important thing.”

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Ay, Caramba! Bart and Homer Simpson, meet “Monday Night Football.”

The Dec. 9 Monday night game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also air from Atoms Stadium in Springfield as part of an alternate telecast.

“The Simpsons Funday Football” telecast will be streamed on ESPN+ and Disney+ while the game airs on ESPN and ABC.

This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars.

In this iteration, Bart will team up with the Bengals while Homer joins the Cowboys. Others Simpsons characters, including Marge, Lisa and Maggie, will also be featured.

Producers for “The Simpsons” will also have original content for the telecast that will be utilized before, during and after the game.

ESPN has been successful with alternate broadcasts of NFL games, including the “ManningCast” during “Monday Night Football” and playoff games.

The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real time on the field. That’s done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Beyond Sports.

Beyond Sports, a company based in the Netherlands, will mostly be responsible for the player animation and making sure the player tracking data works with the animated product.