Yahoo plans to invest in Snapchat: WSJ

[October 04, 2014]  (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc plans to invest a part of the proceeds from the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd stake sale in mobile app Snapchat, which lets users send messages that disappear after a few seconds, the Wall Street Journal said.

Yahoo and Snapchat held talks that are expected to lead to an investment in the mobile-messaging startup’s next funding round, the Journal said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The round values Snapchat at about $10 billion and it was not clear how much Yahoo plans to invest in the hugely popular application, the Journal said.

Yahoo and Snapchat were not immediately available for comments.

Institutional Venture Partners and DST Global, two previous Snapchat investors, are also planning to invest in the company, the paper reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Yahoo's shares were up 1.4 percent at $41.07 in late trading on Friday.

(Reporting By Nayan Das in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

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