Notes from the Yelp! S-1 IPO Filing

Yelp! Inc. just filed their form S-1 to go public, likely by mid-2012 if the IPO market stays open. Yelp is the #1 business reviews platform for consumers to talk about what they like, and don’t like, in a public setting. Since launching in September 2004, they’ve amassed over 22 million reviews.

Here are a few notes from the S-1 IPO filing:

• #1 free listed travel app on the Apple App Store (pg 1)
• 61 million unique monthly visitors (pg 2)
• 19,000 active local business accounts paying for their premium service (pg 2)
• $58.4 million in net revenue for the first nine months of 2011 with a net loss of $7.6 million (pg 2)
• Shopping and restaurants represent 46% of the reviews (pg 3)
• Growth strategy: growth in existing markets, expand to new geographic markets, platform expansion, and enhance monetization (pg 5)
• 43 Yelp markets in the U.S. and 22 Yelp markets internationally (pg 6)
• Revenues (pg 10)
  $12.14M (2008)
  $25.81M (2009)
  $47.73M (2010)
  $58.38M (first nine months of 2011)
• Losses (pg 10)
  $6.23M (2008)
  $2.33M (2009)
  $9.51M (2010)
  $7.41M (first nine months of 2011)
• Accumulated deficit of approximately $32.1 million (pg 15)
• CEO recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition related to Google (pg 19)
• Currently a defendant in seven patent infringement suits (pg 22)
• In the process of settling a suit that alleges violation of labor laws for up to $1.3M (pg 22)
• Advertising contracts are typically 3, 6, or 12 months (pg 24)
• Going to spend approximately $15 million internationally in 2012 (pg 53)
• Strengths: passionate community, leading brand in local, powerful network effect, proven market development strategy, local-focused sales force, proprietary technology, and attractive business model (pg 80)
• As of September 30, 2011, Yelp had 852 full-time employees globally (pg 89)
• CEO 2010 salary was $210,000 (pg 102)
• COO 2010 salary was $235,000 (pg 102)
• Venture capitalists own 74.9% of the company (pg 118)
• The CEO/co-founder owns 11.1% of the company (pg 118)

The Yelp S-1 was straightforward and didn’t provide any suprises.

What else? What are your thoughts on the Yelp S-1 IPO filing?