Snap prices IPO at $17, above the range

IPOboutique.com in an email to clients, said it expects Snap to begin trading sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. ET.

Based in Venice, Calif., Snap is best known for its app offering disappearing messages, but Spiegel describes the business as a camera company that offers a content platform and sells camera-enabled glasses called Spectacles.

In fact, appetite for Snap stock was so strong, many investors accidentally poured money into a completely unrelated company, Snap Interactive, as economist Justin Wolfers pointed out on Twitter.

Those who remember the hype when Alibaba priced its initial public offering of stock in 2014 will get to relive that excitement Wednesday when Snap does the same.

That’s far, far, and away above the price Snap set last night, $17 per share, when the company raised $3.4 billion – a 44 percent increase. Based on the number of fully diluted shares – 1.39 billion, the person said – the market value is $23.6 billion.

While Snapchat has continued to grow in popularity among teens and young adults – partially through amusing photo filters and stylish recording sunglasses called Spectacles – the company’s content push hasn’t been quite as well-received.

Following the IPO, CEO Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, the company’s chief technology officer stand to make at least $352 million each.

Other analysts are even more blunt about Snap. A valuation of $34 billion is about 84 times revenue.

Snap went public in the largest tech IPO in the USA since Alibaba. It helps users communicate with one another mostly by using pictures and videos, or snaps, on its Snapchat mobile app.

The unusual makeup of Snap IPO’s also has sparked a review by an investor committee with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a Reuters report.

The stock has since soared to about $29 as of Friday morning, making the remaining 600,000 shares that the school owns worth roughly $17 million.