Yelp Poised for IPO
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Instead of seeking another round of financing, Yelp is considering an IPO.
After announcing in 2010 that Yelp would not likely go public for several years, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the company had put an IPO back on the table.
The crowdsourced local review site has not yet started the filing process, but it recently began searching for a CFO with IPO qualifications.
Yelp accepted a $25 million investment from Elevation Partners in January 2010 to expand its mobile app presence and roll out new check-in features. The company also added a daily deals component in 2010, but most of its revenue still comes from local advertisers.
Despite growing competition in the local space from check-in services and daily deal sites, Yelp has reported a consistently growing userbase.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the startup now reports 50 million users across its web and mobile platforms. When we last checked in this February, the company reported 45 million users, up from 39 million users in November. Yelp has not, however, reported that it is profitable.
Profitable or not, Yelp has good company among its tech peers in considering the time right for an IPO. Pandora, Demand Media and LinkedIn have all recently joined the public market, and both Facebook and Groupon are expected to follow soon.
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