Yelp IPO to raise $115 million for reviews website

Yelp on Thursday told US regulators that it aims to raise about $115 million in a March stock market debut by pricing its initial shares somewhere between $12 and $14. Yelp, a website which posts user reviews of businesses including restaurants, bars and hotels, amended a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to indicate that it will issue slightly more than seven million shares of Class A stock. The stock was to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "YELP" the first week of March, the amended filing indicated. Yelp in November notified regulators of its intent to become a publicly traded company but had yet to indicate which exchange. In the SEC filing, the San Francisco firm founded in 2004 said it had a net loss of $7.6 million for the first nine months of 2011 on revenue of $58.4 million. Yelp reported revenue of $12.1 million in 2008 and $47.7 million in 2010. The Yelp website hosts more than 22 million reviews of local businesses -- from restaurants to plumbers -- and averaged 61 million unique monthly visitors during the quarter which ended on September 30. Yelp earns money by selling advertising on its website to local businesses. It said it plans to use the money raised from the stock offering for general corporate purposes and possible "acquisitions of complementary businesses."