Three years after some folks laughed at Snapchat for reportedly turning down $3 billion from Facebook and $4 billion from Google, the messaging platform is apparently planning to go public with an initial offering that values the company at several times those earlier amounts.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, is preparing paperwork that could lead to a $25 billion IPO as early as March.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that the company will go forward with the IPO, sources say, noting that Snap has yet to bring in banks to discuss the idea.
Still, a potential IPO at $25 billion would make Snapchat the biggest company to go public since 2014, when Alibaba debuted, the WSJ reports.
The $25 billion valuation is also significantly higher than Snap’s previous value of $17.8 billion estimated earlier this year.
The sources tell the WSJ that the company, which brings in a bulk of its revenue from advertisements in filters and promoted stories, could use the funds from an IPO for acquisitions of virtual-reality companies.
Such a move would make sense, the sources say, after the company recently changed its name to Snap in order to be seen as more than a messaging service, and announced it would launch sunglasses equipped with video cameras.
Snapchat Parent Working on IPO Valuing Firm at $25 Billion or More [The Wall Street Journal]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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