Local business review site Yelp has filed for a $100 million IPO. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Jefferies are serving as co-lead underwriters, while the San Francisco-based company has not yet selected an exchange on which to trade. It is using multiple classes of shares, as has become common among Internet companies like LinkedIn (LNKD) and Groupon (GRPN).
Reports have been that Yelp will seek a valuation of between $1 billion and $2 billion, although today’s filing does not reflect any specific valuation hopes. In late 2009, Yelp reportedly turned down a buyout offer from Google (GOOG) that would have been worth more than $500 million.
The company reports a $7.6 million net loss for the first nine months of 2011, on around $58 million in revenue. This compares to an $8.5 million loss on $32 million in revenue during the year-earlier period.
Yelp has raised around $56 million in VC funding, from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners (22.5% pre-IPO stake), Elevation Partners (22.4%), Benchmark Capital (16.2%) and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin (13.8%).
Company founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman holds an 11.1% ownership position, and has a current salary of $220,000. Chief operating officer Geoff Donaker is Yelp’s highest-paid employee, with a $235,000 annual salary.
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