WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) — Snap Inc. has already filed initial paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation to begin selling public shares of the company next year, news reports said Tuesday.
Snap, the parent company of popular messenger Snapchat, has been getting ready for weeks to launch an initial public offering – a move that involves a business valuation.
In its SEC filing, Snap said it expects to be valued between $20-25 billion, sources told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday — slightly less than analysts previously anticipated.
The paperwork was filed before last week’s presidential election, Business Insider reported. Financial firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are reportedly leading the effort.
Last month, the Journal reported that the IPO could surpass the $25 billion-mark. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Snap could begin selling shares to the public as early as March, sources said, and is expected to be one of the biggest stock debuts in recent years.
Some analysts have speculated that Snap could be valued as high as $40 billion.
Details of the SEC filing were not made public.
Snap, founded in 2012, was allowed to file confidential IPO prospectus papers with the SEC because it’s expected to generate less than $1 billion in revenue this year.
