Wall St. snaps up Snap shares
Snapchat parent valued at $ 23.6B
Shares of Snapchat parent Snap Inc. jumped 44% in their IPO market debut Thursday, showing investors have an unfailing appetite for buzzy, if unprofitable, Internet firms — especially after a dry spell.
After pricing at $ 17 a share, above an earlier range of $ 14 to $ 16, Snap ( SNAP) shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange at $ 24. By the close they had gained 44% to $ 24.48.
The co- founders of Snap Inc., Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, ditched their T- shirts for suits and ties Thursday morning when they appeared at the New York Stock Exchange to help ring the opening bell.
“How do we feel? We were just thinking about how do we answer that question,” Spiegel, who rarely does interviews, told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s exciting.”
Snap has repositioned itself as a camera company, revolving around the smartphone as a way to communicate users’ thoughts and feelings.
“The dream for us is expanding the camera and what it can do for your life. It has capabilities beyond making memories,” Spiegel said.
The Venice, Calif., company started its flagship disappearing- messaging app in 2011 and quickly became a sensation with teens and young adults.
Snap clicked because the founders had a “unique insight into consumer behavior,” said Jeremy Liew, a partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners, an early backer of Snap.
At a time when Facebook and Instagram were getting people to create “the highlight reel of their lives,” showcasing perfection, Snap’s disappearing photos “removed a lot of the friction and allowed people to be more spontaneous.”
Wednesday’s offering of 200 million shares valued the company at $ 23.6 billion — about the size of Google when it made its public debut, but far smaller than Facebook in 2012.
The $ 3.4 billion sale is the biggest U. S. tech IPO since Alibaba raised $ 25 billion in 2014, according to Dealogic.