Reddit CEO Ellen Pao resigns after backlash

Ellen Pao resigned as interim CEO of Reddit on Friday after more than a week of backlash from the website's users for firing a popular administrator.

Reddit co-founder Steven Huffman is taking over the position at the San Francisco-based company. He told Bloomberg he hasn't had an official role at the website for a number of years.

"First, I'm super excited. Second I am terrified," he said of his return to Reddit.

Pao's resignation came after portions of Reddit were effectively shut down by site moderators -- all volunteers -- who were angry over the firing of Victoria Taylor. Taylor was the company's chief facilitator of the wildly popular "Ask Me Anything" pages (AMAs).

Moderators had said they will not be able to coordinate AMAs anymore since Taylor was the point person for contact with politicians, celebrities and other popular figures who participated in the online question and answer sessions.

In response, many of the moderators made their profiles private and shut down the pages they moderated. Many called for Pao to be fired.

Pao took to Reddit to apologize to the website's users and moderators earlier this week, promising improved communication. But Pao and Sam Altman, a Reddit board member, said Pao didn't resign from the company over the backlash.

He said it was a "mutual decision over a number of weeks."

"We had different views in the potential growth rate in users for Reddit this year," Pao said said. "We couldn't come to an agreement on that and I decided to step down."

Pao said backlash from angry Reddit users is "one part of the job I won't be sorry to give up."