Snapchat parent Snap Inc. filed for an initial public offering Thursday, describing itself as a camera company and warning investors it may never be profitable.
The company had a net loss of $515 million in 2016, according to its S-1 filing. That’s a bigger loss than the $373 million Snapchat bled in 2015, although its revenue jumped from $59 million to $405 million. But with 158 million daily active users as of December and a demographic sweet spot squarely in often TV-averse teens and tweens, the social network shouldn’t have much trouble attracting investors — even as it warns them it’s not expecting profitability any time soon.
“We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability,” Snap said in the filing.
Snap also described itself as a “camera company” — not a social network — in the filing.
“In the way that the flashing cursor became the starting point for most products on desktop computers, we believe that the camera screen will be the starting point for most products on smartphones,” the company said in the filing. “This is because images created by smartphone cameras contain more context and richer information than other forms of input like text entered on a keyboard. This means that we are willing to take risks in an attempt to create innovative and different camera products that are better able to reflect and improve our life experiences.”
Aside from the fact that the company doesn’t appear close to turning a profit, Snap’s IPO is also unusual given that founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy will retain control over all stockholder decisions.
“Although other U.S.-based companies have publicly traded classes of non-voting stock, to our knowledge, no other company has completed an initial public offering of non-voting stock on a U.S. stock exchange,” Snap said in the filing.
Snap is seeking to raise up to $3 billion in the offering. CEO Spiegel rejected a $3 billion takeover offer from Facebook in 2013.
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton is stepping down to focus on his role as chairman of Snap’s board, as the company prepares for life as a public company. Snap will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SNAP.
Dani Mathers' Snapchat Scandal and 7 Other Playboy Playmate Controversies (Photos)
Dani Mathers -- the 2015 Playboy Playmate of the Year who's currently under criminal investigation after photographing a nude woman at her gym and posting it on Snapchat -- is the latest Playmate to make shocking headlines, but she's hardly the first.
Read on for TheWrap's history of Playmate controversies.
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After serving as Playboy's 1968 Playmate of the Year using the name Angela Dorian, Victoria Vetri went on to appear in movies such as "Rosemary's Baby" and "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth." Later, she would go on to receive a nine-year sentence for attempted voluntary manslaughter for shooting and wounding her husband during an argument.
Tanya Beyer was Playboy's Miss February 1992. She took a much less glamorous picture for her mug shot years later, after being arrested for trafficking in oxycodone.
The entire public life of Anna Nicole Smith (Playboy's 1993 Playmate of the Year) seemed to be one long controversy, from the battle over her billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall's fortune to her death in 2007 at age 39.
Sibling models Kristina and Karissa Shannon shared Playmate honors in Playboy's combined 2009 "summer issue." However, the two Playmates almost became inmates when they were charged with felony aggravated assault stemming from a fight at a house party. Luckily for them they received probation.
Perhaps not so much a controversy as a tragedy, Playboy's 1980 Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten was murdered that same year, at age 20, by her estranged manager/husband Paul Snider. Her story inspired two movies, "Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story" and "Star 80."
Playboy's 50th anniversary Playmate Colleen Shannon loved her boyfriend so much that she smuggled him into the U.S. from Canada. She was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty.
After scoring Playmate of the Month honors in December 2009, Crystal Hefner (nee Harris) became engaged to Playboy boss Hugh Hefner in 2010. Apparently those wedding bells began to hit some bum notes, and she broke off the engagement in 2011, just days before they were to be wed. The abrupt about-face prompted Playboy to slap stickers reading "Runaway Bride" on the July issue of Playboy, which featured her on the cover. The good news? The pair reunited and married for real in 2012.
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From human smuggling to attempted manslaughter, a history of misdeeds committed by women who’ve appeared in Hugh Hefner’s skin mag
Dani Mathers -- the 2015 Playboy Playmate of the Year who's currently under criminal investigation after photographing a nude woman at her gym and posting it on Snapchat -- is the latest Playmate to make shocking headlines, but she's hardly the first.
Read on for TheWrap's history of Playmate controversies.