An Initial Public Offering is often seen as a big growth milestone for a company. It's a proud moment and gives a sense of legitimacy to many companies, as well as new responsibilities to shareholders. Popular messaging app Snapchat has decided to go public on the New York Stock Exchange later this week. News of the filing from parent company Snap Inc. spread late last week.
The vast amount of paperwork and legal affairs have already been done since Snap already filed privately with the Securities and Exchange Commission late last year. This official IPO will give the public and Snapchat's many users a glimpse into Snap's finances and core business model. Both NASDAQ and the NYSE were looking to attract Snap to their exchange with fancy marketing campaigns last year, but the NYSE was chosen in the end. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are also backing the IPO with a valuation of up to $25 billion.
Snap has already been on the road promoting its IPO with founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy looking to grow to Facebook's size, while staying away from the Twitter business model. Regardless of what direction they choose to go in the future, the founders will seek to retain control and decision making power. This means investors won't get any votes with their share purchase. In an effort to attract investors, Snapchat will likely emphasize their average revenue per user as well as future market growth plans.
After the public filing, Snap must wait a legally required 21 days before they can tout the listing to investors and start trading. Look for shares to become available around March.