Yelp grows in Europe with $50-million Qype deal; stock soars

Yelp Inc., the San Francisco-based review website, watched its stock surge Wednesday after announcing its $50-million purchase of Qype, a similar European site that will help Yelp’s global expansion

The stock touched $27.65 a share a share in trading Wednesday, a 15.2% increase from Tuesday’s close.

Yelp is already established in 19 countries, but the acquisition of German company Qype will strengthen its presence in 13 European nations.

Qype contributors have submitted more than 2 million reviews of local businesses; Yelp users have written more than 30 million. More than 15 million unique visitors use the Qype service each month; Yelp has 78 million.

“Bringing Qype into the fold will enable us to accelerate our international growth and increase our benefit to consumers and businesses,” wrote Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s chief executive and cofounder, in a blog post.

Yelp picked up all of Qype’s shares for 18.6 million euros, or $24.1 million. The Bay Area firm also threw 970,000 Yelp shares into the deal.

But the purchase wasn’t the only factor in Yelp’s stock jump. The company released its preliminary financial results for the third quarter, showing $36.4 million in revenue.

The figure topped analysts’ predictions. Yelp also said it likely suffered a $2 million loss for the quarter.

Final results will be public Nov. 1.

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