Snapchat has been valued at $24 billion, slightly ahead of the company’s target as it prepares to launch on the US stock market on Thursday.
The picture-messaging app has priced its shares at $17, valuing the business at above the range initially expected of between $19.5 billion and $22.3 billion. The IPO will turn its founders, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, into billionaires; despite the fact that Snap has never made a profit.
Its shares will list on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time on Thursday, and were more than ten times oversubscribed. However, according to Reuters, the company had wanted to attract longer-term investors, like mutual funds, rather than hedge funds who buy and sell quickly to make the fastest profit.
Snap’s IPO will be the largest since Alibaba in 2014, and the first social media company since Twitter. Investors at the flotation will not have voting rights.
Snap’s main app, Snapchat, has seen rapid growth since its initial launch in 2011. Its USP was being able to send pictures and videos that disappeared after 10 seconds, but has since expanded to a number of ‘filters’ which change the appearance of users. It has proved especially popular with teenagers, but has largely failed to take off in the adult market.
Snap will begin trading as NYSE:SNAP later today.