Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, today posted its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020 in the Q4 and Full Year 2020 Shareholder Letter available on its Investor Relations website at www.yelp-ir.com.

“2020 was a transformational year for Yelp,” said Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “We preserved our financial strength throughout the pandemic as we increased the pace of product innovation to help consumers and local businesses stay connected, while continuing to make significant progress on our long-term strategy. We increased monetization in Home & Local Services and completed the realignment of our go-to-market channels, driving more revenue growth through our Self-serve channel. As we look ahead, we are confident in our ability to return to sustainable revenue growth in 2021.”

Quarterly Conference Call

Yelp will host a live Q&A session today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results and outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2021. The webcast of the Q&A can be accessed on the Yelp Investor Relations website at www.yelp-ir.com. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same website.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc. (www.yelp.com) connects people with great local businesses. With unmatched local business information, photos, and review content, Yelp provides a one-stop local platform for consumers to discover, connect, and transact with local businesses of all sizes by making it easy to request a quote, join a waitlist, and make a reservation, appointment, or purchase. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004.

Yelp intends to make future announcements of material financial and other information through its Investor Relations website. Yelp will also, from time to time, disclose this information through press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, conference calls, or webcasts, as required by applicable law.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, Yelp’s future performance, including Yelp’s ability to return to sustainable growth in 2021, that are based on its current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties.

Yelp’s actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to:

• fluctuations in the number of COVID-19 cases, the pace at which vaccinations are administered in the United States, and the timeframe for the lifting of COVID-19-related shelter-in-place orders and business restrictions;
• the pace of reopening and recovery by local economies and economic recovery in the United States generally;
• Yelp’s ability to maintain and expand its base of advertisers, particularly as many businesses reduce spending on advertising in connection with COVID-19;
• Yelp’s ability to continue to operate effectively with a primarily remote work force and attract and retain key talent;
• Yelp’s limited operating history in an evolving industry;
• Yelp’s ability to generate sufficient revenue to regain profitability, particularly in light of the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and Yelp’s relief initiatives; and
• Yelp’s ability to generate and maintain sufficient high-quality content from its users.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release and statements made during the above referenced webcast may include information relating to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin, each of which the Securities and Exchange Commission has defined as a "non-GAAP financial measure."

We define EBITDA as net income (loss), adjusted to exclude: provision for (benefit from) income taxes; other income, net; and depreciation and amortization.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), adjusted to exclude: provision for (benefit from) income taxes; other income, net; depreciation and amortization; stock-based compensation expense; and, in certain periods, certain other income and expense items, such as restructuring costs and fees related to shareholder activism. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenue.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are key measures used by Yelp management and the board of directors to understand and evaluate operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve Yelp’s annual budget and to develop short- and long-term operational plans. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of Yelp’s primary business operations. Accordingly, Yelp believes that Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating its operating results in the same manner as its management and board of directors. Beginning in 2021, Yelp no longer considers EBITDA a key measure used by its management and the board of directors and will cease providing this amount going forward.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, which are not prepared under any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles, have limitations as analytical tools and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of Yelp’s financial results as reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). In particular, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be viewed as substitutes for, or superior to, net income (loss) prepared in accordance with GAAP as a measure of profitability or liquidity. Some of these limitations are:

• although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect all cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements;
• EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, Yelp's working capital needs;
• EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect the impact of the recording or release of valuation allowances or tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to Yelp;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not consider the potentially dilutive impact of equity-based compensation;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not take into account any income or costs that management determines are not indicative of ongoing operating performance, such as restructuring costs and fees related to shareholder activism; and
• other companies, including those in Yelp’s industry, may calculate EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures.

Because of these limitations, you should consider EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin alongside other financial performance measures, net income (loss) and Yelp’s other GAAP results.

The following is a reconciliation of net income (loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands, except percentages; unaudited):

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