Reddit's chief legal officer is leaving in September, and the filing that names his successor says only that the company expects to appoint him

Benjamin Lee gave notice on Wednesday.

Reddit told the Securities and Exchange Commission that its chief legal officer and corporate secretary had notified the company of his intention to step down, effective 14 September. He stays on the payroll until 25 September to hand the work over. The filing went in just before five o'clock on Wednesday evening and was signed by Steven Huffman, Reddit's president and chief executive.

The successor is named and the appointment is not made. Reddit said it expects to appoint Paul Cappuccio as chief legal officer and corporate secretary. It describes him in a single sentence, as bringing "deep leadership experience as a public company general counsel, executive, and board director." Nothing else about him appears anywhere in the document.

What the filing does not contain

The document is short. It reports the departure, names an expected successor, and lists a single exhibit, the cover page interactive data file that every filing of this kind carries automatically. No employment agreement is attached and none is said to be coming. There is no start date, no salary, no equity grant and no severance arrangement for either man. Reddit gave no reason for the departure and made no statement about a disagreement.

That leaves a gap between what the company has announced and what it has done. A chief legal officer with a fixed leaving date is a fact. A successor the company expects to appoint is a plan.