Yelp cites Apple partnership as driving force in first quarter revenue growth
Skift Take
Yelp upped its marketing to entice local advertisers to ante up. Relatively few are advertising, which is either a huge opportunity for Yelp, or a sign of its shortcomings.
Yelp Inc., owner of a website that compiles consumer reviews of local businesses, reported first-quarter revenue that exceeded analysts’ estimates as a push into new markets helped bring in more advertisers.
Sales climbed 68 percent to $46.1 million, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement, topping the $44.5 million average analyst prediction compiled by Bloomberg. Yelp’s second-quarter revenue forecast also beat projections, and the company’s shares jumped as much as 12 percent.
Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Stoppelman has forged partnerships with companies such as Apple Inc. and ramped up marketing spending to woo local advertisers, which made up 79 percent of revenue last year. At stake is a local online ad market that
