Are there plans to lead Stack Exchange down a corporate path, monetizing the Q&A with paywalls, or push the free Q&A to the backseat?

For the first and last parts of your question: Yes.

Stack Exchange gives stock options to its employees, and they have raised four rounds of funding from investors. At some point, its employees and investors are going to want to cash in through an IPO or possibly a buyout.

New CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar hinted at that eventuality in an interview when he mentioned "making [SE's] revenue more predictable". That's something that is very important to Wall Street. Also, the new CEO announcement stated that Chandrasekar has investment banking experience, and that will help him guide the company as it seeks to obtain more funding and eventually prepare for an IPO.

If the company does eventually go public, then shareholders will want the company to prioritize initiatives that increase revenue and earnings growth, and the free parts of SE would definitely take a backseat, if they haven't already.

Are there plans to lead Stack Exchange down a corporate path, monetizing the Q&A with paywalls, or push the free Q&A to the backseat?

For the first and last parts of your question: Yes.

Stack Exchange gives stock options to its employees, and they have raised four rounds of funding from investors. At some point, its employees and investors are going to want to cash in through an IPO or possibly a buyout.

New CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar hinted at that eventuality in an interview when he mentioned "making [SE's] revenue more predictable". That's something that is very important to Wall Street. Also, the new CEO announcement stated that Chandrasekar has investment banking experience, and that will help him guide the company as it seeks to obtain more funding and eventually prepare for an IPO.

If the company does eventually go public, then shareholders will want the company to prioritize initiatives that increase revenue and earnings growth, and the free parts of SE would definitely take a backseat. In fact, that is probably starting to happen now, as increasing revenue/earnings growth would make the company more palatable to investors and increase the chances of a successful IPO.