Snapchat's Facebook snub looks smart as Alibaba weighs stake

Take that, Facebook Inc. A year after rebuffing a $3 billion takeover proposal from Mark Zuckerberg, Snapchat Inc. is in talks to raise money from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), people with knowledge of the matter said. The valuation being considered is about $10 billion, more than three times what Facebook Chief Executive Officer Zuckerberg was willing to pay, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The extra billions would make Evan Spiegel -- the 24-year-old frat boy-turned-CEO who founded Snapchat when he wasn't organizing keg parties at Stanford -- look prescient, assuming the details get worked out. Alibaba would also get a bigger stake in disappearing-message technology that's all the rage among teens while gaining a wider toehold in the U.S. -- more than 700 million disappearing "snaps" are sent per day -- where it's planning an initial public offering in the coming months.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1xAEiAz