【Love Nonetheless】

Snapchat officially announced on Love NonethelessWednesday that its shares will begin trading at $17, according to numerous media reports.

The news marks the last major piece of the puzzle before Snapchat officially becomes a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.

The $17 price tag is above the initial expected range of $14-$16, meaning Snapchat saw considerable interest in its offering.

The pricing puts Snapchat's valuation at $24 billion.

The pricing also means that Snapchat will officially be the biggest U.S. tech company to go public since Facebook in 2012.

Snapchat, of course, remains well within Facebook's sizable shadow, but is also seen as the company that Facebook has been most desperate to vanquish. Facebook has repeatedly copied Snapchat features, and is also starting to invest more in high-quality content in order to attract the big brand-based ad budgets.

Snapchat has generated $3.4 billion in extra cash, which will be needed to continue building its business. Right now, the company is far from profitable and its costs are rising quickly.

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