Yelp stock dives on report that plans to find buyer are postponed
Yelp Inc.’s stock plummeted Thursday following a report that the consumer-review company had put off plans to find a buyer.
The shares dropped $4.26, or 10%, to $38.18 -- giving Yelp a total market value of about $2.9 billion -- after trading as low as $36.10 during the session.
The company’s Yelp.com website provides consumers with search and review features for restaurants and other businesses, and it’s been struggling lately to maintain its growth in visitors to the site.
Yelp “has temporarily decided” not to pursue a sale of the company, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, attributing the information to unidentified people with knowledge of the matter.
The San Francisco company might pursue the deal again if Yelp Chief Executive Jeremy Stoppelman changes his mind, Bloomberg said.
Yelp declined to respond to the report, saying via email, “We do not comment on speculation or rumor.”
Yelp’s willingness to explore a sale was reported in May by the Wall Street Journal, a report Yelp also declined to comment about.
In 2014, Yelp earned $37.5 million on revenue of $377.5 million. Its stock has been on a mostly downward trend for the last several months; Yelp traded above $80 a share in September.
