Snapchat parent rockets higher in Wall Street debut

(AP) — The company behind Snapchat is trading sharply higher in its Wall Street debut.

Snap Inc. jumped $7, or 41 percent, to $24 a share.

It had priced its initial public offering of 200 million non-voting shares at $17 each on Wednesday. That’s above the expected range of $14 to $16.

Snap’s IPO is one of the most anticipated for a technology company since Twitter’s in 2013. That, in turn, had created the biggest stir since Facebook took its first bow on Wall Street in 2012. Twitter is now valued at $11 billion, while Facebook is $395 billion. Snap’s pricing valued the

company at $24 billion.

Snapchat is best known for disappearing messages. It’s popular with young people, but growth has slowed down in recent months.