Yeah, most platforms never fully die, they rather turn "undead" in a certain way. They become shadows of their former selves, still limping along because someone is still making money with them somehow. Personally I think that such sites are as good as dead. No matter if the servers are still running.

And yes, I think what you describe will be the likely endpoint of Reddit. It will probably change hands a few times in the meantime as investors attempt to wring the last few bucks out of it before most of the users are gone.