Snapchat rejected $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook

Mobile messaging startup Snapchat rejected an acquisition offer from Facebook Inc that would have valued the company at $3 billion or more, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday. Facebook representatives reached out to Snapchat in recent weeks to discuss the all-cash deal, which would have been Facebook’s largest acquisition ever, the report said, citing anonymous sources. Facebook declined to comment. Snapchat could not immediately be reached for comment. [caption id=“attachment_1177741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Snapchat, which allows consumers to send smartphone photos which automatically disappear after a few seconds, has proven popular among teenage users. The report of Facebook’s interest in Snapchat comes a couple of weeks after Facebook, the world’s No. 1 Internet social network, acknowledged that it was seeing a decline in daily use by young teenagers in the US, although it said overall use by teenagers was stable. Shares of Facebook were up 3.1 percent at $48.05 in afternoon trading on Wednesday. Reuters