Photo-messaging app Snapchat has recently been valued at several billion pounds.
This news seems to vindicate the decision of its then 23-year-old founder, Evan Spiegel, to turn down an offer from Facebook of $3bn (£2bn) in November of 2013.
The social media application, which allows users to send picture messages that disappear a few seconds after being viewed on news feeds, is now being valued at $15bn (£10.1bn), following on from a $200m (£134.6m) investment from Chinese e-retailer Alibaba.
Due to this new estimate of its worth, Snapchat is now reportedly the third most valuable firm in this new generation of startups. According to Bloomberg, it is only behind Uber Technologies Inc., which has an app that allows people to book a car to pick them up, and Xiaomi Corp., a Chinese company that makes smartphones.
The online news provider added that Mr. Spiegel declined to comment about the news, stating that his firm was well known for “not talking about the future”.
While good news for Snapchat, this investment is also indicative of Alibaba’s diversification, with the online retail giant moving away from its core business into other sectors, including entertainment and finance.
According to an analyst at Hong Kong’s ICBC International Research, You Na, Alibaba has a number of plans in the works that will help it move into social networks and access overseas markets. The Snapchat investment may assist it in this aim, especially considering the platform’s global reach and recent monetisation moves.
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