He says (transcript is below the video) that he left Reddit in the Fall of 2007 but continued working as a contractor until the Fall of 2009 so he doesn't really address the current events of Reddit.
That transcript is misleading. Steve stayed with reddit until Fall of 2009 when our contracts ended. He didn't leave to work as a contractor.
One thing I should also mention is that our deal was structured in such a way that either one of us could've left reddit before our contract ended without too much pain (missing some carrots, granted) but we were still rather attached to reddit, the community, and our friends (team reddit). Personally, I did also feel a compulsion to fulfill my side of the contract and make sure Condé Nast got its money's worth. That may make me a tool in the eyes of most Hacker News folks, but so be it.
When you sold the site to Condé Nast they became your customer. Looking after your customers is the number one priority of any business. So it is totally correct that you made sure they received a good product and got the best from it.
