Snap Inc. (SNAP), the owner of the popular video-messaging app Snapchat, scored big on its first day of trading. The company’s opening share of $17 Wednesday night, inflated to 44 percent on Thursday. SNAP stock closed at the end of the day at $24.48. Snap Inc.’s 20 percent of its outstanding shares raised $3.4 billion. At Thursday’s share price, Wall Street’s valuation of Snap Inc. hit $33 billion, which is three times the current $11 billion market capitalization of Twitter (TWTR). Snap Inc.’s 26-year-old Co-founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel, retained $4.5 billion and control of the company. Thursday’s shares came without voting rights. As abundant as its popularity with 150 million app users, investors were just as numbered and anxious for this IPO. Domenico Positant, a research manager of equity capital markets at Dealogic, stated “Across all sectors, everyone is waiting for this IPO.” In 2016, only 26 tech-based companies went public with unflattering payouts. This environment created a huge need for a company the size of Snap to release an IPO. Snap is 2017’s first U.S.-listed tech IPO, and the biggest since China-based Alibaba (BABA) who raised $25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Photo credit: BusinessInsider
