Rumors that Yelp the service that provides consumer reviews is exploring a possible sale, caused the stock of the company, based in San Francisco, to surge by over 23% on Thursday.
A report by a national newspaper prompted analysts to check on a list of possible buyers including from Alibaba to Facebook to Google, for Yelp, the 10-year old company that turned profitable only this past August.
Yet the sale of Yelp, which posts reviews written by consumers of hotels, restaurants and other types of businesses across the country, is not a sure thing.
Citing sources who were unnamed, the national daily said that Yelp was working with an investment bank on the sale that could be in the neighborhood of $3.5 billion. In addition, the report said a deal was not imminent.
One Internet news site said that Goldman Sachs was working with Yelp on finding a buyer.
A spokesperson for Yelp said the business does not make comments on speculation or rumor. The report helped send shares at Yelp soaring and on Thursday caused a halt in its trading.
Yelp stock closed at over $47 per share on Thursday, after opening at $38.21. The stock price for Yelp plummeted since this past September even though the company was able to report a profit for the first time ever.
The company missed its expected financial targets during the 2015 first quarter posting a loss of $1.3 million. Revenue however was up 55% to end the quarter at $118.5 million.
Yelp generates its revenue via advertising, which was up 43% during the quarter to reach $90.1 million.
Its largest draw for advertisers are the monthly unique visitors of more than 142 million who visit the company’s site for desktop computers as well as mobile devices.
Due to that audience, it would not be a surprise if the reports of a sale were the truth.
