[batiudrami]

Well, sure, for their current audience. But they're not getting capital to maintain their current audience, they're getting it to further expand into other demographics. Those demographics are likely to be less impressed by the content which currently dominates the front page.

Plus, going that way isn't necessarily a solid business model for the future anyway. Remember the Cheezburger network? Failblog? 9Gag and 4Chan have both had huge drops in traffic since their heyday. Reddit is the shining example of an internet culture site which has continued to flourish over time, and even then, I think they will hit critical mass with their current target demographic soon.