Snapchat parent rockets higher in Wall Street debut
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Snapchat co-founders Bobby Murphy, left, and CEO Evan Spiegel rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange as the company celebrated its IPO today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel posed for a photo, in Oct. 2013, in Los Angeles.
NEW YORK >> The company behind Snapchat is trading sharply higher in its Wall Street debut.
Snap Inc. jumped $7, or 41 percent, to $24 a share.
It had priced its initial public offering of 200 million non-voting shares at $17 each on Wednesday. That’s above the expected range of $14 to $16.
Snap’s IPO is one of the most anticipated for a technology company since Twitter’s in 2013. That, in turn, had created the biggest stir since Facebook took its first bow on Wall Street in 2012. Twitter is now valued at $11 billion, while Facebook is $395 billion. Snap’s pricing valued the Los Angeles company at $24 billion.
Snapchat is best known for disappearing messages. It’s popular with young people, but growth has slowed down in recent months.
