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Yahoo Spoiled the Google-Yelp Merger

Written on
Oct 1, 2010 
Author
Gavin Dunaway  |
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Yahoo Spoiled the Google-Yelp Merger

google_recruiting_small.jpgADOTAS – Many of us who study Google’s acquisition behavior were pretty shocked when Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman walked away from the bargaining table as a $550 million acquisition agreement was being finalized last December. Nobody on the inside was talking, but rumors of a counter-offer echoed across the Internet, even though Yelp remained independent.

Well, now that the dust has settled, a source has told Michael Arrington at TechCrunch that there was a spoiler involved — as the purchase papers were being drawn up, Yahoo swooped in with an offer of $750 million. Google refused to match the price because they thought the counter-offer was fake.

Only thing is Yelp’s management wanted nothing to do with Yahoo, preferring Google. But Yelp’s board couldn’t justify to shareholders passing up a deal worth $200 million more, so the company was forced to walk away from both.

So did Yahoo really screw over both Google and Yelp? Or did it actually do Google a favor?





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