Comments on: Report: Google-Yelp Deal Not Happening Now

By: mwheeler

mwheeler — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:12:42 +0000

I have to agree with Greg. As a sane human, you cannot walk away without an alternative.

By: realgdog

realgdog — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:35:43 +0000

“As Arrington suggests, perhaps a third party investor has come forward with the promise of a big cash infusion. Or perhaps the board now sees an IPO opportunity down the line. But you don’t walk away — and your hungry investors don’t let you walk away — from this kind of money ”

Why people give yelp such credit is beyond me. Another entirely possible explanation is that yelp/board did not like the deal terms. We have seen with newscorp/myspace that Google likes to structure in guarantees when a large amount of money is on the line, and all $500mm deals are not equal.

Given the exorbitant price quoted, if I was google, I’d insist on specific revenue upside targets being met out of this deal. Would yelp actually fire anyone out of this deal? Very unlikely, so they would have been expected to deliver in a pretty big way.

So as I gather, yelp will sell for $500 mil in cash without accountability. Add in any guarantees or other stipulations, and the deals off.

By: simons1321

simons1321 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:57:38 +0000

@david… local search and/or the new map service that’s supposed to replace Google Maps on the iphone (see Apple Placebase acquisition).

Perhaps that’s what Google’s original motivation for wanting to buy Yelp was… a strategic blocking of Apple buying yelp to integrate with Placebase…?

By: jvautier

jvautier — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:30:15 +0000

Google should look at PlanetBuzz.com PlanetBuzz has better functionality, charges far less to businesses, has a fundraising approach for 501(c)3s and has REAL consumers offering reviews/comments…not paid Yelper journalistc wannabe’s.

PlanetBuzz is the best resource for seo, viral word of mouth and business social media built on a fully loaded business directory w facebook/twitter capability to extend loyalty between consumer and business and create MORE traffic/sales. .

By: David Mihm

David Mihm — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:56:26 +0000

Funny, I was having this discussion with a friend of mine over the weekend re: Apple. Seems like the fit there would be SO much better and would give Apple a pretty strong starting point in Local Search if it ever decided it wanted to get into that game…