Daily Report: Snap Is About to Bring Tech Wealth to Los Angeles

You have probably heard about the enthusiasm for the impending technology initial public offerings among people who sell expensive things. The sports car dealerships shine their excessively powered Italian cars. The high-end real estate brokers persuade old homeowners to sell to flush newcomers. And the local restaurants get ready to move a few extra bottles of Opus One.But what happens when a technology company goes public in a town that is not in Silicon Valley?We will find out soon enough when Snap, which is the parent of Snapchat and is based in the Los Angeles area, has an initial public offering that could put the company’s value at $19.5 billion to $22.2 billion. As Katie Benner writes, Snap has already helped change its beachside neighborhood, Venice, where real estate prices are in the same ballpark as those in San Francisco’s Mission District and Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto — two communities deluged in recent years by technology money.
No doubt, people who sell expensive things are excited about the potential of newly wealthy customers. As one wealth manager put it, Los Angeles could finally have its “Google moment,” a reference to the search giant’s I.P.O. in 2004, which created scores (maybe even hundreds) of new millionaires.
But think twice about blowing your payday on that giant house on the beach, Snap employees. As promising as Snap looks today, there is no guarantee it is built to last.

source:www.nytimes.com