01/03/17 - Snapchat shares soar 44% to value loss-making company at $28bn

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/02/snapchat-ipo-valuation-evan-spiegel-bobby-murphy-snap-inc

The article focuses on Snap Inc's initial public offering (IPO) which resulted in the company's stocks having a 44% increase on just the first day of trading and therefore resulting in the company to be valued at almost $28bn. The company is responsibly for Snapchat the photo sharing and messaging app. The stock's opening guide price was $17 but closed at almost $24. There is also great potential as Snap's IPO has resulted in it becoming a huge competitor against Facebook. It has also pushed past Twitter in terms of popularity and value in the market.

• Stocks soaring 44% on their first day of trading and valuing the company at $28bn
• According to Snapchat, 158 million people use the service each day and create 2.5bn “snaps” between them
• The average user is younger and spends about 30 minutes a day on the service
• In 2013, Snap's owners turned down a $3bn offer for the company from Mark Zuckerberg. At the time, the company had six employees

I think it is not surprising that Snapchat company is valued at such a high price and is very rapidly becoming a big competitive rival against Facebook. It's services are targeted at a much more young demographic than those of Facebook, as Snapchat is used by young people all over the globe. Snapchat also has a lot of potential through the use of Snap stories from media brands/institutions to generate a huge amount of ad revenues and profits in one way or another. However, it is unlikely that we will see Snapchat surpass Facebook anytime soon as Facebook is a tech giant that has been around the block for a long time in terms of social media.