Snap: a unicorn that should stay in the forest

Snap, the company behind mobile-phone messaging app Snapchat, beloved of teenagers and young adults, plans a $25bn initial public offering in March.

Snap, the company behind mobile-phone messaging app Snapchat, beloved of teenagers and young adults, plans a $25bn initial public offering in March. And while Snapchat is widely seen as a way to send explicit photos, "no one can accuse Snap of being a cheap thrill", says the Financial Times' Lex column.

Facebook, which has 1.2 billion users and revenues of $27bn, is valued at 14 times sales. Twitter, with 150 million users and revenue of $3bn, trades on four times sales. Snap has 168 million users and revenues of $400m, which would put it on 60 times sales even though it lost $500m last year.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.