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Snapchat to invest $1B to beef up augmented-reality features

Snapchat knows how much its users love vomiting rainbows and seeing what they’d look like as the opposite gender — so it plans on giving them more.

The parent company on Tuesday said it will raise $1 billion in short-term debt to beef up Snapchat, including more augmented reality. The cash will be also used to invest in more media content as well as to possibly acquire other companies, said Snap, which is run by Chief Executive Evan Spiegel, the husband of supermodel Miranda Kerr.

“I think this is a company that’s going on the offensive in terms of their growth initiatives,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told The Post. “They see a window of opportunity, and they’re going after it. ”

Indeed, the company last month said revenue jumped an impressive 50 percent in the second quarter thanks to new augmented-reality lenses that went viral.

One of its most popular lenses lets users reverse their gender in photographs — giving women short hair and a five-o’clock shadow and showing men what they might look like with a narrower jawline, shoulder-length hair and a face full of makeup.

Snap will raise the money by offering $1 billion in convertible senior notes that will mature in 2026. At that point, it will choose to pay investors in cash, stock or a combination of both.

Ives noted that Snap’s decision to go with short-term debt shows that the company is confident in its profitability and cash-flow generation in the immediate future.

Investors initially sent the stock down more than 1.5 percent on fears that the tech giant may be taking on too much debt. But the stock bounced back later in the day to close down less than 1 percent, to $16.29 a share.

The stock is up more than 180 percent year-to-date.

In a memo to employees obtained by Reuters, Spiegel said the current low-interest rate environment gives Snap a good opportunity to complete the offering.

He noted investor demand for convertible notes is strong, adding that the company expects the fundraising to close later this week.

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The post Snapchat to invest $1B to beef up augmented-reality features appeared first on Fox USA Live.



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