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Here are 1-3 brief analogies for Yelp:

• The Google for discovering and reviewing local businesses.
• TripAdvisor for all local services and businesses, not just travel.
• A digital, crowd-sourced Yellow Pages.

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• Local Business Discovery and Review Platform: A digital platform where consumers can search for, discover, read and write reviews about local businesses, and engage with them.
• Advertising Services for Local Businesses: Provides various advertising and marketing tools for businesses to enhance their visibility and attract customers on the Yelp platform.

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Yelp (symbol: YELP) primarily sells to other companies, specifically a vast number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that utilize Yelp's platform for advertising, enhanced business listings, and lead generation.

Unlike companies with a concentrated customer base, Yelp does not have a few identifiable "major customer companies" that account for a significant portion of its revenue. Its business model relies on attracting millions of local businesses across diverse industries. These customers are typically private, local enterprises and therefore do not have public company symbols.

Examples of the types of businesses that constitute Yelp's customer base include:

• Restaurants, cafes, and bars
• Salons, spas, and fitness centers
• Plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and other home service providers
• Dentists, doctors, chiropractors, and other healthcare professionals
• Lawyers, accountants, and other professional service providers

It is not possible to list specific customer companies or their symbols, as Yelp's revenue is derived from a highly diversified base of millions of predominantly private, local businesses, with no single entity representing a material customer concentration.

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• Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)
• Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)

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Jeremy Stoppelman, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Director

Jeremy Stoppelman co-founded Yelp in 2004 with Russel Simmons at MRL Ventures, famously leaving Harvard Business School after his first year to do so. Before Yelp, he served as the Vice President of Engineering at X.com, which later became PayPal, and is recognized as a member of the "PayPal Mafia." Under his leadership, Yelp grew significantly, went public in 2012, and he notably turned down an acquisition offer from Google.

David Schwarzbach, Chief Financial Officer

David Schwarzbach joined Yelp as Chief Financial Officer in 2020. Prior to his role at Yelp, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Optimizely, Inc. He also held various senior finance positions at eBay, Inc., including Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of eBay's North American Marketplaces business, where he was instrumental in growing Gross Merchandise Volume to over $30 billion. Earlier in his career, he worked as an Executive Director in Morgan Stanley's Global Capital Markets division.

Jed Nachman, Chief Operating Officer

Jed Nachman joined Yelp in 2007, initially leading the company's sales team. He became Chief Operating Officer in 2016, having previously served as Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President of Revenue. In his current role, he oversees Yelp's business operations, including sales, marketing, and administration. Before joining Yelp, Nachman spent seven years in senior sales roles at Yahoo! HotJobs. He began his career in the Venture Services Group of investment bank Robertson Stephens.

Craig Saldanha, Chief Product Officer

Craig Saldanha joined Yelp in 2022 as Chief Product Officer, bringing nearly two decades of experience in product leadership and engineering. Before his tenure at Yelp, he served as the Director of Product and Engineering for Prime Video at Amazon and held various technical roles at Intel for a decade.

Sam Eaton, Chief Technology Officer

Sam Eaton became Yelp's Chief Technology Officer in January 2021, having initially joined the company in 2013. He previously led the Site Reliability Engineering team and was the Vice President of Engineering for Operations and Infrastructure from 2016. He is responsible for overseeing Yelp's engineering team and technical recruiting efforts. Prior to Yelp, Eaton was a Director of Web Technology at Future Publishing for seven years.

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The public company Yelp (YELP) faces several key risks to its business model and future growth. These risks primarily stem from intense market competition, challenges in maintaining the integrity and user trust in its core user-generated content, and concerns surrounding its advertising model leading to stalled revenue growth.

1. Intense Competition

Yelp operates in a highly competitive local digital advertising market. It faces significant competition from major tech companies such as Google and Facebook, which offer similar local business review and discovery services with broader user bases and extensive resources. Other review platforms and specialized industry-specific platforms also vie for market share, making it challenging for Yelp to continually innovate and attract both users and advertisers.

2. Dependence on User-Generated Content and Content Integrity Challenges

Yelp's business model heavily relies on user-generated content, primarily reviews. This dependence introduces risks related to declining user engagement or a deterioration in content quality. A significant ongoing challenge is maintaining the integrity of reviews and combating fake or manipulated content. Yelp has faced criticism for its review filtering system, with some businesses alleging that legitimate reviews are removed or that the system can be manipulated. Such issues can lead to negative public perception and erode trust among both consumers and businesses, directly impacting the platform's credibility.

3. Challenges with Advertising Model and Stalled Revenue Growth

Yelp's primary source of revenue is advertising, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in advertiser spending and perceived value. The company has experienced declining ad clicks and a reduction in the number of paying advertisers. Small businesses, a key segment for Yelp, have expressed concerns regarding the cost and perceived fairness of its advertising model. There have been allegations of "extortion-like" practices, where businesses claim positive reviews are suppressed or negative ones amplified if they do not purchase advertising. These concerns can alienate a significant portion of Yelp's potential clientele and contribute to stalled revenue growth, compounded by macroeconomic factors that can affect overall advertising budgets.

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There are two clear emerging threats to Yelp:

• Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs): The rapid development and integration of generative AI into search engines (e.g., Google's Search Generative Experience, Microsoft's Copilot) and conversational platforms pose a significant threat. These AI models can synthesize vast amounts of information, including reviews and business details from various sources, to provide direct, curated recommendations and summaries in response to user queries. This capability allows users to receive highly specific suggestions (e.g., "Find a dog-friendly Italian restaurant with outdoor seating and good reviews near me") without needing to navigate to a dedicated review platform like Yelp, potentially bypassing its advertising-driven business model.

• Visual-first Social Media Platforms: Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are increasingly becoming primary discovery tools for local businesses, particularly among younger demographics. Users are shifting towards these platforms for visual inspiration and recommendations based on user-generated videos, photos, and influencer content rather than traditional text-based reviews. Both TikTok and Instagram are actively enhancing their local discovery features, including maps and "Places" functionality, directly competing with Yelp's core offering by providing a more dynamic and visually engaging pathway to finding local services and experiences.

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For Yelp Inc. (YELP), the addressable markets for its main products and services are primarily in the U.S. and include:

• Local Advertising: The U.S. local advertising market is projected to reach $171 billion by 2025. Digital media is expected to account for 52% of this total, amounting to $89 billion in 2025. The overall U.S. advertising market size was valued at USD 267.4 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to USD 479.4 billion by 2033.

• Online Food Delivery: The online food delivery market in the United States is projected to reach approximately USD 93,358.2 million (or over $93 billion) by 2030. Other estimates forecast the U.S. online food delivery market to reach USD 75.10 billion by 2033, or USD 75.4 billion by 2034.

• Restaurant Reservation Software: The North American restaurant reservation software market, which largely encompasses the U.S., was valued at USD 2,881.22 million in 2024 and is anticipated to reach USD 7,187.28 million by 2032. Globally, the online restaurant reservation system market is valued at USD 2.43 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 6.71 billion by 2035.

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Yelp (YELP) is expected to drive future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years through several key initiatives and market dynamics:

1. Expansion in Services Category, especially Home Services: Yelp continues to strategically focus and invest in its services categories, with particular emphasis on home services. This segment has consistently shown strong growth, with advertising revenue in services increasing by 11% year-over-year in Q1 2024, and home services revenue growing by approximately 15% year-over-year. The company expects its services initiatives to gain traction and contribute significantly to overall revenue growth.
2. AI-powered Product Innovation: Yelp is heavily investing in and rolling out new AI-powered product features designed to enhance connections between consumers and service professionals. Initiatives like "Request-a-Quote" projects and "Yelp Assistant" have shown promising results, with Request-a-Quote projects increasing by approximately 20% year-over-year in Q1 2024. The Yelp Assistant, a conversational AI feature, aims to intelligently guide consumers in finding suitable service professionals and has contributed to a substantial increase in project submissions.
3. Growth in Self-Serve Advertising: The self-serve advertising channel is a growing contributor to Yelp's revenue. The company has reported strong growth in this area, indicating increasing adoption and spend from businesses managing their own advertising campaigns on the platform.
4. Increased Advertiser Demand and Ad Clicks: Yelp has observed robust advertiser demand, particularly within its services segment, which has translated into higher advertising revenue. The company's efforts to acquire services projects through paid search are also yielding positive early results, driving an increase in ad clicks and contributing to overall advertising revenue growth. This increased demand, especially from service professionals, has led to a rise in average revenue per location.

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Share Repurchases

• Yelp announced an increase in its equity buyback plan in February 2024, raising the authorization by $500 million to a total of $1.75 billion.
• As of September 30, 2025, Yelp had $127 million remaining under its existing repurchase authorization.
• The company repurchased $251.181 million in 2024, $199.999 million in 2023, and $200.006 million in 2022. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, repurchases of common stock amounted to $203.450 million.

Share Issuance

• Proceeds from the issuance of common stock for employee stock-based plans were $12.295 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, and $13.436 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024.
• Between 2022 and 2023, Yelp's net share buyback was approximately 4-5% annually, impacted by the issuance of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).

Outbound Investments

• Yelp completed the strategic acquisition of RepairPal, an auto services platform, for approximately $80 million in cash in November 2024.
• This acquisition was intended to boost Yelp's presence and growth in the services categories.

Capital Expenditures

• Purchases of property, equipment, and software were $36.136 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, and $26.337 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024.
• As of September 30, 2025, capitalized website and internal use software development costs were approximately $339 million, representing investments in building and improving digital infrastructure.
• Yelp is making strategic investments in AI to accelerate its transformation, including expanding Yelp Assistant and developing AI-powered call answering services like Yelp Host and Yelp Receptionist, with over 35 new features rolled out in Q3 2025.