Yelp Inc. signage hangs outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, March 2, 2012.Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Yelp Inc., which hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to find a buyer, has temporarily decided not to pursue a sale, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The consumer-review website has had several interested suitors but isn't pursuing a transaction in the immediate future, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. San Francisco-based Yelp may pursue a deal again if co-founder and chief executive officer Jeremy Stoppelman changes his mind, one of the people said.
Yelp has a market capitalization of about $3.1-billion (U.S.). The company's shares have slumped 17 per cent since May 8, the day after Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported Yelp was working with a bank to explore a sale. Yelp hired Goldman Sachs after receiving takeover interest, one of the people said.
Kayleigh Winslow, a spokeswoman for Yelp, said the company doesn't comment on rumour or speculation. An acquirer that could help Yelp connect reviewers to making purchases may entice management to sell, people familiar with the matter said in May. Yelp could charge advertisers more amid the increased likelihood of a sale directly from the site.
About 1.5 million transactions were completed on Yelp Platform since its inception in July, 2013, Stoppelman said in April. That's significantly less than the 142 million average monthly visitors that checked out Yelp, either from a mobile device or computer, in the first quarter.