The Wall Street Syndicate Is Still At Work

Maybe they benefited from divine intervention… or maybe they were just lucky. Either way, the students and staff of St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California must be pretty happy right now.

In 2012 the school took a chance, investing $15,000 in a small, little-known app maker called Snapchat. Last week the school sold two-thirds of its shares for $24 million when the stock went public. I’m sure they’re still giving thanks.

Other people took home some dough that day as well. The co-founders, Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel, both cashed out $272 million. Their remaining shares make them both members of the billionaire’s club.

All told, the company sold 145 million shares and insiders/early investors sold 55 million shares. The company netted around $2.4 billion to fund expansion and operations, while the individual sellers walked away with the remaining $1 billion.

This part of the story is fun, but it can’t hold a candle to the folks that really got away with all the cash… the syndicate.

The early investors and insiders took a chance on a company that currently generates revenue but hemorrhages cash. In 2016, Snapchat (SNAP) brought in $404 million and lost $515 million. And there’s no end in sight.

For the uninitiated, Snapchat is essentially a photo- and video-based social networking service. It’s a hit mostly among teenagers and millennials, but parts of other demographics have caught on too. Direct messages, or “snaps,” disappear forever after someone views them. The app also has group chat and story features, and many big media and publishing brands have their own channels within Snapchat.

The company has 158 million daily users, so clearly, those involved think there’s a way, perhaps somewhere in the distant future, to turn those eyeballs into dollar signs.

Stock investors that bought shares the day of the IPO also see some hope. The shares priced at $17 but opened at $24. Those buyers who were allocated shares in the IPO before trading opened earned a cool 40% instant profit.