diff --git a/base/reduce.jl b/base/reduce.jl
index 66a184fa35812b..368bf177579951 100644
--- a/base/reduce.jl
+++ b/base/reduce.jl
@@ -682,8 +682,8 @@ than or equal to any other element) that will be returned for empty collections.
 julia> minimum(length, ["Julion", "Julia", "Jule"])
 4
 
-julia> minimum(length, []; init=-1)
--1
+julia> minimum(length, []; init=Inf)
+Inf
 ```
 """
 minimum(f, a; kw...) = mapreduce(f, min, a; kw...)