Yelp reports Q4 net loss of US$5.3m, but sales reach US$41.2m

7 Feb 2013

Local reviews network Yelp has announced its fourth-quarter financial performance, with the company reporting a net loss of US$5.3m. However, revenue surged to reach US$41.2m in that timeframe. Yelp is also continuing with its mobile strategy in the face of rising competition.

The company also announced its financial results for the full year ended 31 December 2012.

Yelp reported a net loss of US$5.3m in the fourth quarter, or US$0.08 per share. This was compared to a net loss of US$9.1m, or US$0.56 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Net revenue for the fourth quarter was US$41.2m, with Yep announcing this was a 65pc growth in net revenues from the fourth quarter in 2011.

Net revenue for the full year was US$137.6m. This was an increase of 65pc compared to revenues of US$83.3m in the same period last year.

Yelp also said cumulative reviews grew 45pc year-over-year to hit more than 36m at the end of 2012.

100m unique visitors to Yelp in January

The company also announced that Yelp recieved more than 100m unique visitors in January.

Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s CEO, said this milestone was an all-time high for traffic to the desktop and mobile sites.

He said this figure didn’t include the 9.4m unique mobile devices that used the Yelp mobile app in January.

As for Yelp’s financial results, Stoppelman described 2012 as being a “tremendous” year for the company.

“We completed a successful IPO, launched new products to improve the Yelp experience for consumers and business owners, expanded into new markets while increasing our presence in existing ones, and completed our first acquisition [Qype],” he said.

According to Stoppelman, the aim is for 2013 to be a “tipping point” for the Yelp brand in Europe. He also pointed to how mobile will remain a top priority for the company. This is in light of increasing competition from new tools, such as Facebook’s new Graph Search, launched in January.

At the launch of the new search engine, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it would index locations, likes and comments, friend connections, tags and apps.

Here’s what Stoppelman had to say about Yelp and mobile: “Our mobile strategy will remain a top priority as engagement increases, and we will continue to focus on the business owner, creating more ways to measure the value of Yelp leads.”

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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