The PR hits just keep on coming. We’ve all known of Snap Inc.’s stock woes over the last few months – and continued to tank – since it matched its IPO listing of $16.95 on July 11th. For the record, it’s now at $12.93 as of 5:15 EST. Ouch. Anyway, if that wasn’t bad enough, the news that Google had bid informally for the company in the past for the oh-so-reasonable price of $30 billion leaking is just pouring salt into the wound at this point.
First reported by Business Insider, sources say that early 2016 was the first time that the informal offer was first floated. Specifically, before Snap’s last funding round where it raised capital from private equity firms at a $20 billion valuation back in May 2016. CapitalG, the growth equity fund run by Alphabet (Google’s parent company), did end up investing in Snap Inc.
And for what it’s worth, the news of Google’s interest helped Snap’s share price climb around 2.3 percent today. 
One source has maintained that Google and Snap continued to speak right up until Snap’s IPO in March with the same $30 billion offer still on the table. With how the shares have been slipping in the last few months, that $30 billion offer is approximately twice what it’s at now with a market cap around $14 billion – a far cry from its IPO valuation of around $24 billion.
Google has since declined to comment while a Snap representative told Business Insider that as far as formal discussions go, “these rumors are false.”
H/T: Business Insider
