Snapchat, a photo messaging application, has just flatly refused to be bought in $3 billion cash by Facebook. Just not this time yet, its inventors said. All because they believed a bigger company with a bigger offer could come along.

After all, it is likewise being pursued by Tencent, one of China's three Internet giants, according to the New York Times.

On Wednesday, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Snapchat's Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy rejected Facebook's acquisition offer. Facebook deemed Snapchat a necessary acquisition to be able to keep the younger teen bracket onto Mark Zuckerberg's site. Based on an earnings call this November, Facebook admitted its service is getting to be less and less used by its youngest users.

"If Facebook is saying they are having an issue with teens and they need to find an app for teen advertisers, then it's logical to find an app where teens are spending their time," USA Today quoted Forrester analyst Julie Ask.

Snapchat is currently the vogue thing for the younger generation all because it enables users to maintain anonymity even after posting or sending photo and video messages to each other. Photos posted on Snapchat automatically disappear after a few seconds, unlike in Facebook which preserve them for eternity way even one is six feet down under.

Launched in 2011 by two former Stanford fraternity brothers, its inventors claimed Snapchat has zoomed. Mr Spiegel boasted the service already maintains 26 million U.S. users, and more than 100 million total users. In September, Snapchat transmitted more than 350 million messages daily, up from 200 million in June.

China's Tencent Holdings reportedly values the 2-year-old Snapchat start-up at $4 billion.

During Wednesday's afternoon trading, Facebook shares were up 3.1 per cent at $48.05.