Snapchat parent company files for IPO

Snap Inc., the parent company of mobile app Snapchat, officially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday afternoon.

The highly anticipated IPO will be the biggest since Alibaba’s $25 billion dollar filing in 2014, which was the largest ever.

Experts expect the Snap IPO’s valuation to be in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion. Some outlets are reporting estimates as high as $35 billion.

The company used its filing Thursday to raise major political issues, including U.S. tax reform.

“Certain changes to U.S. tax laws … could affect the tax treatment of our foreign earnings, as well as cash and cash-equivalent balances we maintain outside the United States,” Snap wrote under the risk factors portion of their SEC filing.

{mosads}“Due to the large and expanding scale of our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. or foreign taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and the amount of taxes we pay and seriously harm our business.”

Tax reform has been a concern for many in the tech industry, with tech leaders calling it a priority for discussion when entering a meeting with Donald Trump, then the president-elect, in December.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also met with lawmakers in January to discuss tax policy, among other topics.

Snap also raised the Brexit as another concern in its filing Thursday, saying the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union could “seriously harm” its business.

“The political and economic instability created by Brexit has caused and may continue to cause significant volatility in global financial markets and uncertainty regarding the regulation of data protection in the United Kingdom,” the filing read.

The company opened its first European office in London earlier in the month.

According to the Thursday filing, Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter, alongside Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Allen & Company.

Snap will only offer Class A shares in the offering, which don’t have shareholder votes.

The move is in step with many large tech companies taking precautions to retain high levels of control after going public. Facebook’s shares are structured in a manner that protects founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s stake in the company. Google made similar provisions in its 2004 IPO.

Snap’s SEC filing did not specify the number of shares that would be issued and shares will not pay dividends.

Updated at 5:57 p.m.