SNAP Inc.’s foray into the New York Stock Exchange surprised everyone except this horde of busy investors who quickly bought into the initial public offering (IPO) at $17 per share, making it the best performing technology stock since 2014. Investors were aware the stock exchange had conducted a trial run to ensure the demand for Snap shares was met without hiccups, and they responded with great enthusiasm making this IPO the hottest property in the market with its price jumping up to an appreciable $24.48 when the market closed on Thursday. Its initial market value of $28.3 billion made Snap’s co-founder Evan Spiegel richer by $272 million, and this sharp-suited techie arrived in great style to watch his company’s shares make an impact and then did the disappearing act to celebrate in private.
Snapchat hits the bull’s eye with social media traffic
Hitting out at competitors like Facebook’s Instagram, Snap has proved its mobile app Snapchat is not just popular but can raise money in the share market for future ventures. Started as a fun-messaging device on smart phones, users click photos, make interesting changes, and then post them to friends for a brief spell before they disappear. Extremely popular with social media enthusiasts below the age of 30 years, Snapchat has managed to hold its own against Instagram, which incidentally offered to buy the company in 2013 for $3 billion. Calling itself an emerging growth company, Snap Inc. has not offered any voting rights to its investors.
This gives it the freedom to experiment and surprise users with technological advances and hold its own in a competitive market.
Snap Inc. set to raise even more money with full greenshoe option
The fact that Instagram is trying its best to include features similar to what Snap introduces in the social media market makes this hot property even more appealing in the eyes of investors.
For a company that posted a $514-million loss in 2016, Snap's initial IPO price has given it the boost it needed to offer unique value to users that are hungry for technological breakthroughs, especially in areas where filters are applied to photos and videos to create “snaps”, then broadcasted as a collection over a 24-hour period.
Now that the company has the option to issue more shares with its full greenshoe option, Snap Inc. is all set to increase the $3.4 billion it raised with its IPO to $3.9 billion making it one of the biggest US technology companies to hit the market. This performance will definitely encourage other tech companies to come up with similar offerings in the near future.
