Yelp has acquired popular European review site, Qype, to help accelerate the company’s international expansion.
Yelp, which was founded in 2004, uses local reviews and social networking to create an online local community.
Yelp allows users to connect with local businesses that are rated on a 5-point scale. Site visitors review businesses as well as giving details about businesses addresses, hours, and credibility.
The acquisition of Qype brings Yelp more than 2 million reviews and 15 million unique visitors across 13 countries. The company acquired Qype for approximately $50m.
"I am excited to welcome Qype's employees and users to Yelp," said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp co-founder and ceo. "We have built a solid foundation in Europe and this acquisition should significantly increase our international presence. With its strong local content in key markets like Germany and the United Kingdom, we believe that Qype will help Yelp become the de facto choice for local search in those markets." "Qype's established European sales force will also bring more local business owners into the Yelp ecosystem, which in turn will bolster our mission to connect people with great local businesses all over the world."
Yelp revenue for the third quarter 2012 is expected to be approximately $36.4m, with net loss for the quarter to be $2m.
Earlier this year, Yelp partnered with Bing to feature content on Bing's local search pages
Bing users will see reviews, photos, and other content by Yelp when using Bing local pages to help people find out more about businesses near them.
The company had approximately 71 million monthly unique visitors in Q1 2012 and its app was used on 6.3 million unique mobile devices on a monthly basis. By the end of Q1 2012 Yelp users had written over 27 million local business reviews.
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