Bay Area School Gets Rich Quick On Snapchat Investment

Saint Francis High School just taught us all a lesson in finance.

The Mountain View, California, private school parlayed a $15,000 Snapchat investment it made years ago into more than $20 million after the social-sharing company went public in a big way on Thursday, CBS in San Francisco reported.

“I’m not so sure that I call it divine intervention, but I’ll tell you what: If you can turn $15,000 into the vast amount of money that this return will bring, then you have to say God’s looking out for us,” former school president Kevin Makley told the station.

IPO shares of Snap Inc. jumped on the New York Stock Exchange from $17 to $24.48 in the company’s debut on Thursday.

Current school president Simon Chiu estimated the profit to be in the “neighborhood of $23 million.”

Saint Francis High School got in on the action in 2012 when school parent Barry Eggers persuaded the school’s investment fund to back Snapchat after watching his daughter and her friends tinkering with the app, according to the Mountain View Voice.

“We didn’t have real high expectations,” former president Makley told CNN. “We collectively decided that this was going to be a … small investment. So we’ll take a shot at it.”

According to the CBS segment, numerous stock splits before the IPO meant the school was holding millions of shares. It sold two-thirds of those shares at the IPO price.

Chiu told the Voice he hopes to beef up the school’s endowment fund to help families in need ― but said it will be up to the school board to decide how to allocate the money.

“We want to make this education accessible to as many students and families as possible,” he said.