Yelp share price surges on revenue of $158.6m
Yelp's share price jumped by 7.75 per cent in after hours trading after it announced revenue of $158.6m (£109.5m) for the first quarter of 2016 – beating analysts' expectations of $155.6m in sales.
The online reviewing service posted a loss of $0.20 per share – equating to a net loss of $15.5m, widened from the $0.02 loss per share ($1.3m net loss) recorded in the same period of last year.
However, Yelp co-founder and chief exec Jeremy Stoppelman said the company had a "great start to the year", with local revenue growth accelerating to 40 per cent year-on-year.
"We hit a major milestone in the first quarter, surpassing 100m cumulative reviews," he added.
"With a mobile review contributed every two seconds on average in the quarter, our fresh, relevant review content is what makes Yelp a destination for consumers looking to find and transact with great local businesses.
"Our sizable, purchase-oriented traffic makes us the perfect place for local businesses to advertise and positions us well to capture the significant opportunity as local ad dollars continue to shift online.”
The company said that by the end of the first quarter, it had 102m cumulative reviews, around 50 per cent of which had been added in the last two and a half years.