Yelp recently joined the parade of Internet companies that went public already or are lining up to go public. The online review website has filed for an IPO of up to $100 million.
Yelp is looking to add to the likes of Groupon and LinkedIn, which were the largest of the social web companies to list this year. Zynga is also expected to price soon.
Some Statistics about the site
Based in San Francisco, Yelp has not yet said which exchange its stock will trade on or how many shares it plans to sell.
Founded in 2004, Yelp has amassed more than 22 million reviews of restaurants, shopping establishments, salons, beauty and fitness, arts, entertainment and other businesses. The Company has 61 million monthly unique visitors. But like many other tech companies testing the public markets this year, it isn't yet profitable.
The site generated $58.4 million net revenue in the first nine months of 2011, 80% growth over the same period in 2010. It operated at a net loss however, of $7.6 million.
Max Levchin, the first investor in Yelp, a board member of the company and co-founder of PayPal and Slide, owns 13.8%. Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman owns 11.1% of Yelp’s outstanding shares.
Most of Yelp’s income comes from local advertising, followed by brand advertsing and “other services” such as Yelp Deals, partnerships and remnant advertising inventory.
Yelp faces both a volatile market and stiff competition from Google and other giant players. Internet IPOs are still hot though, as Groupon, LinkedIn and Angie’s List have proven in recent months.
