Yelp Acquires European Reviews Site Qype for $50 Million

Online reviews Web site Yelp announced on Wednesday morning the acquisition of Qype, the largest reviews service in Europe, for $50 million.

“With its strong local content in key markets like Germany and the United Kingdom, we believe that Qype will help Yelp become the de facto choice for local search in those markets,” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a press release.

The Germany-based Qype is considered Yelp’s biggest competitor in Europe, having already established its footing throughout central and Eastern Europe as far back as 2006. Yelp has built a European foothold over the last two years, albeit behind Qype’s pace. As recently as two weeks ago, Yelp launched in Poland, a country in which Qype has operated for years.

So rather than play catch-up with Qype abroad, Yelp decided to take the acquisition route. The purchase — which will bring Yelp’s total user base to more than 100 million globally — will be recorded on Yelp’s books in the Q4 period.

Yelp also released preliminary financial results for the company’s third quarter on Wednesday morning, reporting expected revenue of $36.4 million, with an expected quarterly net loss of $2 million. That’s up from the previous quarter’s revenue of $32.7 million.

The company will report its third-quarter earnings next Thursday, Nov. 1.