Forget Jordan Belfort! Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have finally arrived. The co-founders of the popular app Snapchat have finally made their company public by placing it on the New York Stock Exchange. Snapchat is the biggest tech company to register their business on the stock exchange and so far, there are no regrets. The company’s initial public offering (IPO) was set at $17 a share, however it didn’t stay this way for long. By the end of the trading day, the company’s shares were valued at $24.48, an increase of 44%. There is a debate occurring amongst analysts as to whether or not the Snap (the parents company of Snapchat) shares are overvalued. Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group has estimated the shares to be worth $10 opposed to the current $24.48. It seems as though tech companies are becoming an increasingly popular investment after the likes of Facebook and Twitter, or even the era of the Apple boom. The public is recognising a trend and realising the value of these industries. This time, no one wants to be left out in the cold. The nature of the stock market is fickle and with many other social media platforms attempting to emulate the ephemeral nature of Snapchat, could this signal the inflation that Wieser suggests? Or does this mean that Snapchat is still leading the way, being the first innovators of the platform they have pioneered?
