Owner of Snapchat lowers IPO value

Snap, owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, yesterday set a lower-than-expected valuation for itself amid mounting investor concerns over the company’s still unproven business model, slowing metrics and tight founder control.

The company, which filed for an IPO earlier this month, was widely expected to be valued at between $20bn and $25bn (€18.75bn €23.5bn) but fell short by targeting a valuation between $19.5bn and $22.3bn ahead of its marketing road show, due to start on Monday in London.

Investors have been poring over the filing for Snap’s upcoming IPO to assess whether the still- unprofitable company will be the next Facebook, which has figured out how to make money from its social media platform, or if it will be more like Twitter, which is struggling to achieve the same goal.