Snapchat has transformed itself from a sexting app founded by Stanford frat bros to a camera company on the verge of a $ 24 billion IPO.
Its Wall Street debut on Thursday is already being hotly anticipated as the tech IPO of the year. Here’s what you need to know about the IPO as it starts trading:
The basics: Snap Inc. is scheduled to start trading on the NYSE Thursday under the ticker SNAP after pricing its IPO at $ 17 a share. That gives it a $ 24 billion valuation.
Snap sold 200 million shares at $ 17 apiece, valuing the company at $ 23.8 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The majority of the allocation went to mutual funds that are likely to hold the shares for the long term, the person said.
Some of Snap’s new investors won’t be able to sell the stock for a year.
As many as a quarter of new shares sold in Snap’s IPO could go to long-term investors who will be required to hold the stock for a year, the company said in a regulatory filing. In exchange for a guaranteed block, the big investors may agree not to dump the stock — though Snap’s filing says it may waive the lockup requirement.
It’s also selling only non-voting shares since its CEO Evan Spiegel and cofounder Bobby Murphy want to retain control.
This is a rare move for a company, and an SEC committee is already looking into what it means for investor transparency.
A report in The New York Times said the founders tightened their grip on the company over a dispute with its first investor.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
