VOA慢速英语--Snapchat启动IPO融资 估值200亿美元

 

The owner of messaging service Snapchat is preparing for the technology industry’s biggest initial public offering, or IPO, since 2014.

Snap Inc. recently filed for the IPO, which will allow the company to offer stock shares to the public on the New York Stock Exchange. According to multiple media reports, the IPO will happen in early March.

Based on its targeted share price, the IPO would put the Los Angeles-based company’s value at more than $20 billion. That predicted valuation is based on the stock being offered at $14-$16 per share.

Snap Inc. would be the biggest IPO in the technology industry since China’s Alibaba Group went public in 2014.

The company’s 26-year-old Chief Executive Officer, Evan Spiegel, is currently meeting with investors¹ in the U.S. and abroad to seek support for the IPO.

Snap Inc. began as Snapchat in 2011. It became a popular messaging app for sharing photos. The app was unusual because it automatically deleted photos after they were sent. Messages became known as “Snaps.”

Over the years, the company developed additional products related to photo and video messaging. For example, users can add entertaining features like text and animation² to photos and videos.

The company also added a “Discover” section containing short news videos. Another feature called “Stories” lets people create collections of messages, videos and photos from the past 24 hours.

Some of Snap Inc.’s competitors – like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – have copied some of these features as a way to win new users.

Snapchap says it had 158 million active daily users at the end of 2016, with an average of 2.5 billion Snaps created every day.

Most users of the service are between 18-34 years old. Those under 25 are most active and spend more than 30 minutes a day on the app, according to Snap.

Snap Inc. has said its goal is to “reinvent the camera” to “improve the way people live and communicate.” It has signaled a desire to produce hardware to improve the Snapchat service.

One of the new products is a pair of sunglasses that can record short video clips. The company just started selling the glasses online for just under $130 in the United States.

Until now, the new glasses - called Spectacles – were only sold at limited places in the U.S. and sold out very quickly.

Spectacles look a lot like many other regular sunglasses. But they have a built-in camera in front that can record up to 10 seconds of video. They come in bright colors and were designed to appeal to people seeking a new, fun experience on Snapchat.

Spectacles connect to Snapchat through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, allowing users to immediately send the clips to others.

Snap Inc. is also reportedly developing products for future release related to virtual reality, augmented³ reality and facial recognition.

Words in This Story

initial – adj. occurring at the beginning of something

app – n. a computer program that performs a special function

animation – n. a drawing, pictures, etc., shown quickly one after another

hardware – n. machines or equipment used inside computers or together with electronic devices

augmented reality – n. a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world.

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

3 Augmented   

adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• 'scientists won't be replaced," he claims, "but they will be augmented." 他宣称：“科学家不会被取代；相反，他们会被拓展。” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The impact of the report was augmented by its timing. 由于发表的时间选得好，这篇报导的影响更大了。