Anniversary of Snap IPO to Trigger Final Lockup Expiration

(Bloomberg) -- Roughly 50 million shares of Snap Inc. will be newly available to trade on March 2, the one-year anniversary of 2017's largest listing.

The final IPO lockup expiration applies to certain unknown investors who bought the shares in last year's initial public offering, according to the prospectus. Holders will be able to sell these positions for the first time.

Since buying into Snap's IPO one year ago, these traders have been required to hold while the stock rose as much as 73 percent above the price they had paid -- and fell as much as 30 percent below it -- amid transformations inside the social media company. Last month, shares jumped 47 percent when the company reported revenue above Wall Street's projections for the first time.

Snap has held onto a 20 percent gain since the results on February 6, but has underperformed rivals Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. from last year's debut at $17 per share.

Shares fell slightly more than 1 percent during each of the two prior lockup expirations at the end of July and August. This week's lockup expiration arrives amid poor reviews for the redesigned Snapchat app, which Stifel said may be causing volatility in engagement.

A total of 230 million shares were sold in last year's IPO, including the underwriters' option. Snap has 887.6 million shares outstanding and a 458.1 million-share float as of January 31, according to Bloomberg data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Singer in New York at dsinger28@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Morwenna Coniam

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