Yelp buys European rival Qype for $50 million
With an eye on expansion, the business reviews site has picked up a similar European site to the tune of $50 million.
Yelp is looking to grab a bigger slice of the European pie with its latest acquisition.
The company, whose mission is to "connect consumers with great local businesses," said today that it has acquired Qype. Located in Germany with operations in the U.K, Qype dubs itself Europe's biggest local reviews site.
The two sites help people find local restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, retail stores, and a variety of other businesses. Users can find details on a business, including the address, directions, and phone number. And they can read reviews from fellow members to see if the business is worth trying.
Under the terms of the deal, Yelp purchased all of Qype's shares for around $24 million in cash and 970,000 of its own Class A stock -- a total price tag of around $50 million.
The goal behind spending that much money is to help Yelp further branch out across Europe.
Yelp already does business in 10 European countries. But it's looking for Qype to contribute its more than 2 million reviews and 15 million monthly visitors from across 13 different countries.
"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," Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a statement. "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 also offered a peek at its preliminary third-quarter results. The company expects to show a net loss of $2 million and sales of around $36.4 million. Yelp went public this past March with an IPO of $15 a share. Its second-quarter results also showed a loss of $2 million, while sales rang in at $32.7 million.