The Top 4 Yelp Shareholders (YELP)

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Steven Nickolas
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Updated September 25, 2021
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Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was founded in 2004 to help San Francisco residents find and review local businesses. From those humble intentions, Yelp has grown its global user base, with over 200 million reviews as of 2021. Yelp announced its Q4 2020 earnings on Feb. 9, 2021. The company reported $233 million in revenues this quarter, compared to $268.8 million over the same period last year.

The four largest individual shareholders of Yelp are all current or former executives in the company. Here are their stories.

Jeremy Stoppelman

​Jeremey Stoppelman is the co-founder and CEO of Yelp, a concept that he brainstormed in 2004 while sick with the flu and unable to find reliable doctor recommendations online. Before creating Yelp, Stoppelman worked as the Vice President of Engineering for X.com, the company that would eventually become PayPal. Stoppelman refers to himself as a "hands-on" CEO and has a desk on the company's open-office floor with other employees. According to Stoppelman's most recent filing with the SEC on March 3, 2021, the Yelp CEO owns approximately 360,000 shares of the company indirectly through a trust.

Stoppelman holds a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Geoffrey Donaker

Geoffrey Donaker joined Yelp in 2005. After 11 long years at the company, Donaker retired as Yelp's Chief Operating Officer in August 2016. Donaker continues to serve on the company's board, a position he has held since 2010. Before his time at Yelp, Donaker worked with tech companies like eBay, Collectibles and Voter.com. Per Donaker's latest SEC filing on Feb. 26, 2019, the Yelp director owns 341,940 shares of the company held indirectly through a trust.

Donaker holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

Joseph "Jed" Nachman

Joseph "Jed" Nachman joined Yelp in 2007 and served as vice president of sales until 2011. Thereafter, Nachman served as senior vice president of revenue between 2011 and early 2016, when he was promoted to chief revenue officer. Nachman currently holds the position of COO of Yelp and the bragging rights of being the company's fourth-largest individual shareholder. As of March 3, 2021, Nachman holds 251,930 shares of Yelp.

Nachman earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Colorado.

Laurence Wilson

Laurence Wilson joined Yelp in 2007 to oversee the company's legal and regulatory affairs and currently serves as the company's chief administrative officer. Prior to assuming his role at Yelp, Wilson served as a vice president of legal at Xoom Corporation and as corporate counsel for various startup companies. Wilson weighs in as Yelp's has 37,500 shares of the company as of March 8, 2021. 

Wilson holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California and a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School.

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  1. Yelp. "Fast Facts."

  2. Yelp. "Yelp Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results."

  3. Yelp. "Management."

  4. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Stoppelman Jeremy (0001541476)."

  5. Bloomberg. "Geoff Donaker."

  6. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Donaker Geoffrey L (0001539856)."

  7. Bloomberg. "Jed Nachman."

  8. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Nachman Joseph R (0001540652)."

  9. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Wilson Laurence (0001539846)."