Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel
The messaging and photo-sharing app Snapchat has reportedly declined an offer from Facebook to purchase the company for about $3 billion in cash, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Unnamed sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that the company’s co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel is optimistic that the app’s growing number of users and message volume would warrant an even higher valuation at a future point in time. Though a company spokesperson refused to comment, the sources said he would probably not consider acquisition offers until early 2014.
In September, Snapchat announced that nearly 350 million messages were sent through service daily, according to CNBC, up from 200 million three months earlier. The company has received more than $75 million in funding to date, and is in talks with investors for additional backing, but has no revenue.
Had it been accepted, the $3 billion offer would have made Snapchat Facebook’s largest acquisition to date. The social media giant purchased social network Instagram for about $1 billion in 2012.
While there are many messaging apps on the market, Snapchat is unique in that its messages, which include photos and videos, disappear from recipients’ mobile devices a few seconds after they’ve been opened.
Many spectators were quick to weigh in on the deal that wasn’t on Twitter:
Even the Jersey Shore’s Pauly D weighed in…
Only time will tell if Spiegel’s decision will pay off.