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Snapchat company sets IPO targets

By Paresh Dave, Los Angeles Times
Published: February 16, 2017, 5:45pm

LOS ANGELES — Snap Inc. set a starting price range of $14 to $16 per share for its initial public offering, which at the top end could value the Los Angeles technology company at more than $22 billion.

The IPO of the Snapchat mobile app developer is expected to be the largest ever for a Los Angeles firm and the biggest since Alibaba and Facebook.

The share prices, which were disclosed in a securities filing early Thursday, are nonbinding. But they set the stage for Snap officials, led by Chief Executive Evan Spiegel, and investment bankers at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to hold discussions with investors around the world about their interest in betting on the nearly 6-year-old company. Scheduled gatherings include an event in London on Monday and New York City on Tuesday.

The company started as a self-destructing photo messaging app, but has added features for texting, video sharing, money transfers and news to become the leading entertainment hub for 158 million daily users — most of them young adults.

Snap hopes to raise about $2.3 billion in cash from selling shares, which it would spend on hiring, taxes, technology, acquisitions, marketing and other efforts in the coming years.

Existing shareholders, a group that includes Spiegel and co-founder Bobby Murphy, plan to sell holdings worth another $880 million.

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