Snapchat owner prices IPO, seeks more than $2b

Snapchat's corporate parent seeks to raise more than $2 billion for the fast-growing social media group in the tech sector's largest public offering in nearly three years, documents filed Thursday showed.

Outlining the financial details of its initial public offering (IPO), Snap Inc. said it expects net proceeds of some $2 billion.

It will offer 145 million new shares and sell 55 million from existing share owners, with an expected price range of $14 to $16, the documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

The offering -- confirmed with a public filing on February 2 -- would be largest in the sector since the Chinese online giant Alibaba's US market debut in 2014.

The listing would value Snap at between $19.5 billion and $22.2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the deal.

The move is expected to be closely followed by Wall Street and the tech sector, with other highly valued peers such as Uber and Airbnb also studying IPOs.

Known for its disappearing messages, Snapchat has become hugely popular with young smartphone users.

The company has also recently been expanding its offerings to enable publishers to deliver content on the platform.

Some 158 million people use Snapchat daily, with more than 2.5 billion Snaps created every day, according to the filing.

Snapchat has partnerships with dozens of publishers and organizations, including one announced Thursday by the New York Times.

While some analysts say Snap has the potential to challenge Facebook, others say it could end up like Twitter, consistently losing money with its existence as an independent firm in peril

Comments

Bitcoin Laundering” Study: Where Do Criminals Turn to Mask Illicit Cryptoassets?

A recent study ( PDF ) from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance and blockchain analytics company Elliptic explored the “bitcoin laundering” ecosystem. In the study, Elliptic’s forensic analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain and other publicly available data were used to track the flows of illicit funds from 2013 to 2016. “This study aimed to identify where individuals turn in order to cash out or transmit bitcoins (BTC) acquired from illicit entities and to discover typologies for criminals ‘laundering’ bitcoins,” the report says. The study describes bitcoin laundering as a special type of money laundering that exists within the Bitcoin network where a user moves some bitcoins to a new address in a manner that obscures the original source of funds. The conversion of bitcoins into fiat currency on exchanges that lack adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) policies can also fall under the category ...

Soaring Bitcoin Price Leads $159 Billion Crypto Market Recovery

Bitcoin Well, somebody bought the dip. Just as critics were rushing to proclaim that the bitcoin bubble had burst, the markets staged a $159 billion recovery. The rally was headlined by the bitcoin price, which rebounded from its sub-$10,000 fling and is currently flirting with $12,000. Several other top-tier coins, meanwhile, returned single day increases in excess of 40 percent. Source: CoinMarketCap Altogether, the cryptocurrency market cap clawed its way back to $574 billion, representing a 38 percent recovery from Wednesday’s intraday low of $415 billion. Bitcoin Price Eyes $12,000 Wednesday served as a trial-by-fire for recent bitcoin investors, some of whom had purchased the flagship cryptocurrency for $19,000 at the height of the rally in mid-December. Bitcoin Price Chart The correction forced the bitcoin price below $10,000 for the first time since early December, but Thursday’s rally enabled bitcoin to regain a bit...

How to Boost Your Credit—or Build it Up From Nothing

Now that you know how credit works , you probably want to know how to make it work better . While nothing is better for your credit than paying your bills in full and on time, there are ways to give it a boost. Like it or not, credit matters . It’s also complicated. In our “Everything You Need to Know About Credit” series, we’re breaking down the basics. When a lender or landlord looks at your credit, they’re not just looking for a three digit number, they want to know how you actually handle credit. That’s why your credit report is more important than your score. That said, your score matters, too, and the good news is, there are shortcuts for boosting it in a relatively short amount of time. And if you don’t have credit at all — let’s say you’re a teenager about to start college — your biggest focus should be on building up a credit history. That way you can apply for student loans, apartments, and make sure you aren’t gouged on bills . Here are some options...

Gsbt

Search This Blog