Snapchat Files For a $3 Billion IPO (theverge.com)

Snapchat has filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange today, picking the ticker symbol "SNAP." The company hopes to raise $3 billion and says it has 158 million daily active users. The IPO would reportedly value the company above $20 billion. The Verge reports: The filing comes at an exciting but challenging time for Snap. The company -- originally named Snapchat -- has declared its intentions to become -- a camera company -- rather than just an app developer. And it's already found some success with Spectacles, its fun pair of video-recording sunglasses. The company says its advertising business is growing quickly. It reported $58.7 million in revenue for 2015, and grew that to $404.5 million in 2016. Along with that strong revenue growth, however, its losses also swelled. Snapchat lost $372.9 million in 2015 and $514.6 million this past year, more than its total revenue. Twitter was also struggling to generate a profit when it went public, while Facebook was not. Here's a gem from the S-1 filing. "We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability." Sounds like a great investment!

Comments

We've seen this before...

[Zeddicus_Z]

"We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability."

Sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before? ... Oh, I remember, Exodus Communication during the last great share market bubble!

Exodus Communication circa 2000*: "It is possible that we may never achieve profitability on a quarterly or an annual basis."

Exodus Communications history:

• Mar 1998: IPO
• Dec 1999: Stock price growth of 1005.8% over IPO price as at 31 Dec
• Dec 2000: Down 55%
• Sept 2001: Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
• Dec 2001: Down 99.8%
• Early 2003: Last trade at 1 penny/share

* See https://www.sec.gov/Archives/e...