Local reviews network Yelp – which will reveal its Q3 financial results in November – has bought over Qype, its biggest competitor in Europe, in an acquisition valued at about US$50m.
Qype is regarded as Europe’s largest local reviews site with more than 2m reviews and 15m unique visitors per month across 13 countries. The company is headquartered in Germany with operations in the UK and these are just two of the markets in which Yelp hopes to gain influence as it accelerates its international expansion.
“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,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, co-founder and CEO of Yelp.
The deal to acquire all of Qype’s shares cost Yelp about €18.6m plus 970,000 of its own shares, equating to a total purchase price of about US$50m.
Yelp’s third-quarter financial results will be reported on 1 November but preliminary results have been given alongside today’s announcement. Revenue is expected to be about US$36.4m, exceeding predictions made in August.
