:00:00. > :00:00.Now for the latest financial news with Sally
:00:00. > :00:23.Investors scramble for Snapchat, in the biggest tech flotation
:00:24. > :00:27.But is the app a cash cow or just a craze?
:00:28. > :00:32.the boss tells us his plans for the internet TV giant
:00:33. > :00:40.as it heads towards 100 million users.
:00:41. > :00:46.Also in the programme: Up up and away -
:00:47. > :00:48.the US markets blast through previous record highs,
:00:49. > :00:52.the global rally is continuing in Asia.
:00:53. > :01:02.We start on Wall Street where investors are gearing up
:01:03. > :01:05.for what could be the biggest and certainly the most hyped
:01:06. > :01:07.technology flotation since Twitter in back 2013 -
:01:08. > :01:14.In a few hours time shares in SNAP- the owner of photo messaging app
:01:15. > :01:17.Snapchat - will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
:01:18. > :01:20.The big question - will it end up a stock market giant
:01:21. > :01:23.like Facebook or, like Twitter, a bit of a flop?
:01:24. > :01:26.The flotation has been hugely oversubscribed -
:01:27. > :01:29.there were as many as ten orders for every share.
:01:30. > :01:32.That's allowed Snapchat to up the price.
:01:33. > :01:35.Late on Wednesday it priced its shares at $17 -
:01:36. > :01:40.above the $14-to-$16 range it had previously indicated.
:01:41. > :01:44.That will give the company an opening valuation of $24 billion.
:01:45. > :01:48.More than twice as much as Twitter at its current share price.
:01:49. > :01:51.That's despite a couple of major worries -
:01:52. > :01:55.Firstly, Snapchat has yet to turn a profit.
:01:56. > :02:01.In fact it lost over half a billion dollars last year alone.
:02:02. > :02:06.Plus shareholders who buy in will not have any voting rights.
:02:07. > :02:08.The founders of the company will retain complete control
:02:09. > :02:14.They are incredibly young and, as of later today,
:02:15. > :02:21.Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy - both in their 20s -
:02:22. > :02:26.will be worth around $4 billion each.
:02:27. > :02:32.From New York, here's Samira Hussain.
:02:33. > :02:42.In just five years, Snapchat has gone from a little at created by a
:02:43. > :02:47.couple of college kids to a virtual Giant with 160 million daily
:02:48. > :02:53.activities users. On Thursday it will start trading here on the New
:02:54. > :02:59.York stock exchanges. Why are investors so excited about a company
:03:00. > :03:04.valued at $20 billion but has yet to make a profit? They are hoping it
:03:05. > :03:10.will see the same success as companies like Google or Facebook.
:03:11. > :03:14.Of course, the worry is that they will end up looking more like
:03:15. > :03:21.Twitter, companies that came with a lot of hype but not much chance. It
:03:22. > :03:27.is a new breed of social networking. It is not like Facebook where there
:03:28. > :03:32.is a big public wall with your family on there, it is not like
:03:33. > :03:37.Twitter broadcasting to the whole world. If you are of a child
:03:38. > :03:43.completely at the did to this product you might very well see it
:03:44. > :03:51.has a future. I did not use it. I have it but I do not use it. I use
:03:52. > :03:59.it every day. My kids use it. I use it all the time. I do not know what
:04:00. > :04:04.it is and I did not use it. Snapchat is the talk of Wall Street even
:04:05. > :04:10.though it is geared towards teenagers but that is the key
:04:11. > :04:17.towards its success. If it cannot attract its young users, it risks
:04:18. > :04:21.becoming just another tech company that group two big too fast.
:04:22. > :04:23.James Erskine is Director of the social media consultancy-
:04:24. > :04:39.We have arrived after so much hype. There are questions about this
:04:40. > :04:45.company and its future. What is your take? We will be talking about this
:04:46. > :04:54.company as a great success? It is closer to Facebook than Twitter- 160
:04:55. > :05:01.million users daily sounds like an awful lot. The Rat stakeholders, the
:05:02. > :05:08.users, they know it is a photo and video sharing social network and
:05:09. > :05:13.that is exciting. A bit of disconnect between them and the
:05:14. > :05:21.investors. Investors are kind of uninsured. It was rendered as a
:05:22. > :05:27.camera company in 2016. That to me sounds quite this are, at the moment
:05:28. > :05:34.it is saying they have more stuff coming and new toys coming in the
:05:35. > :05:41.future? Similar perhaps the Google glasses, real-world products hard to
:05:42. > :05:46.get hold of... You sense that there are other things coming soon which
:05:47. > :05:54.will plan into a master, eager plan, perhaps. It does have advertising on
:05:55. > :06:06.the app. And is generating much income? About 90% generated comes
:06:07. > :06:09.from advertising. As part of your business, we look at different
:06:10. > :06:14.influences and how they engaged with different social networks and what
:06:15. > :06:22.Snapchat needs is to look at its products, it needs scalability and
:06:23. > :06:28.bigger brands. It needs to sort of shift in the way Facebook has in
:06:29. > :06:33.terms of getting many in from the advertisers. It has the people who
:06:34. > :06:41.use it, and it is the people advertisers want to grab hold of -
:06:42. > :06:47.the millennial is. My thought is it is about content. What content is on
:06:48. > :06:54.Snapchat that uses cannot find elsewhere. Fascinating. Thank you
:06:55. > :06:57.for coming in this morning and sharing your thoughts on Snapchat.
:06:58. > :07:03.The big event takes place later today and we will be all over it and
:07:04. > :07:05.then it will disappear... No, it won't.
:07:06. > :07:09.the internet TV streaming service has been growing fast
:07:10. > :07:11.and is on track to hit 100 million subscribers.
:07:12. > :07:14.But it's facing growing competition from other companies
:07:15. > :07:18.Co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings has been speaking
:07:19. > :07:20.to our Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan Jones
:07:21. > :07:24.at the Mobile World congress which is under way in Barcelona.
:07:25. > :07:33.It is just starting, we are getting more viewing on mobile and doing
:07:34. > :07:40.well on television but the key thing is being able to binge view and
:07:41. > :07:44.watch whenever you want. You need to keep adding these subscriber
:07:45. > :07:49.numbers, how will you continue because there must be a limit to the
:07:50. > :07:54.number of people who want to pay that much monthly? You chip have
:07:55. > :07:59.just announced they are doing a billion hours of viewing a day so
:08:00. > :08:08.considerably more than Netflix so there is lots of room to grow. But
:08:09. > :08:12.that is for free, YouTube. We will continue to invest in a great shows
:08:13. > :08:20.and people who will want to subscribe now 100 billion paying
:08:21. > :08:28.members. The big issue has been neutrality of net. You do not want
:08:29. > :08:33.that to be charged from other kinds of traffic. What are the prospects
:08:34. > :08:42.now that we have a Trump administration that is not seem
:08:43. > :08:46.friendly to that? Net neutrality has taken around the world as an
:08:47. > :08:51.assumption about the way the Internet should work. There are a
:08:52. > :08:57.lot of countries that do not have a law but we still operate very much
:08:58. > :09:04.along those principles. What would your message to Trump the? I think
:09:05. > :09:10.net neutrality is important so none of the voices are censored and there
:09:11. > :09:15.is inequality around. Facebook seems interested in doing a lot more
:09:16. > :09:23.video. That would be quite a danger to you? And there is YouTube read
:09:24. > :09:29.which is a subscription service, potentially Apple, Amazon on, a lot
:09:30. > :09:35.of competition, rate for the consumer and challenging Fort
:09:36. > :09:41.Netflix but there is also a lot of room to grow. But we challenge and
:09:42. > :10:00.also excitement. The Dow Jones closes above 21,000.
:10:01. > :10:05.It makes this the fastest rise since 1999. Shares in banks have been
:10:06. > :10:09.climbing since President Trump's election victory. He has promised to
:10:10. > :10:18.cut regulation on Wall Street as well as reducing taxes and
:10:19. > :10:26.implementing infrastructure programmes. You can see the price of
:10:27. > :10:36.oil has fallen as well. A weaker yen is also helping. Rates rise possible
:10:37. > :10:40.in March and many believe it is feeling these numbers. When will it
:10:41. > :10:49.end? We will see you soon. MPs say that the government's
:10:50. > :10:51.delayed 25-year plan for improving England's
:10:52. > :10:52.natural spaces should The government promised
:10:53. > :10:56.in its manifesto that it would restore damaged
:10:57. > :10:58.wildlife habitats and leave them in a better
:10:59. > :11:01.state than before, but MPs want to see how
:11:02. > :11:05.they propose to do it.