The US company behind the popular disappearing message service Snapchat is to float on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tech firm Snap aims to raise up to $3bn (£2.4bn) in an initial public offering (IPO) but admits "it may never achieve or maintain profitability".

It is set to be one of the largest IPOs since China's e-commerce Alibaba Group went public in 2014.

The flotation, expected next month, has also drawn comparisons with those by US tech giants Facebook and Twitter a few years ago.

Snap could reportedly be valued at $20bn-$25bn and its co-founders, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, who each own about 20% of the firm, will control "all stockholder decisions".


According to the IPO filing, Snap will become the first US company to go public with shares on offer that do not grant voting rights to stock market investors.

Image: The company behind Snapchat is set to float on the NY stock exchange

The firm pointed out: "Our two co-founders have control over all stockholder decisions because they control a substantial majority of our voting stock.

"We are not aware of any other company that has completed an initial public offering of non-voting stock on a US stock exchange.

"We therefore cannot predict the impact our capital structure and the concentrated control by our founders may have on our stock price or our business."

Image: Snapchat founders Evan Spiegel (L) and Bobby Murphy

At least 158 million people use the Snapchat messaging app daily, according to the company.

Some 2.5 billion 'Snaps' - photos or videos from within the Snapchat app - are created each day, and 60% of Snap users create daily Snaps, the firm added.

In 2016, Snap's revenue was $404.5m, compared with $58.7m the year before.

But its net loss was $514.6m in 2016 following a loss of $372.9m in 2015, making a two-year loss of almost $900m.

Image: The tech firm aims to raise up to 3bn dollars in an initial public offering (IPO)

In the IPO filing, Snap said: "We have incurred operating losses in the past, expect to incur operating losses in the future, and may never achieve or maintain profitability."

Los Angeles-based Snap, which launched in 2012, also said it will spend $2bn over the next five years working with Google Cloud.

It will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SNAP".