Snapchat owner files U.S. gov’t paperwork for IPO

Snap Inc. on Thursday filed its initial public offering prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission,, setting up what could be one of the largest IPOs in recent years. File Photo by 360b/Shutterstock

Feb. 3 (UPI) — What might become one of the U.S. technology industry’s largest initial public offerings in years formally got underway Thursday.

Snap Inc., the parent company of social site Snapchat, filed the official and necessary prospectus paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to set up sales of its shares to the public.

The opening offer from Snap, which classifies itself as a camera company, is expected by some tech experts to be the biggest stock debut since Facebook’s in 2012.

Snap’s paperwork said it hopes to raise $3 billion, although the company could be valued as high as $25 billion.

“Worldwide advertising [spending] is expected to grow from $652 billion in 2016 to $767 billion in 2020,” the prospectus states. “The fastest growing segment is mobile advertising, which is expected to grow nearly 3x from $66 billion in 2016 to $196 billion in 2020. We believe that one of the major factors driving this growth is the shift of people’s attention from their televisions to their mobile phones.”

With the filing, the company also disclosed what has previously been uncertain — that it has 158 million daily active users.

Snap Inc. is also the company that produces Spectacles — $130 camera glasses that can post to Snapchat. In September, the company dropped the “chat” from its name and rebranded itself simply Snap.

“We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way that people live and communicate,” the filing states. “Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.”

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