(MarketWatch) Advertisers fled Yelp Inc., and now investors are doing the same.
Yelp said Tuesday it saw a wave of local advertiser departures in January and February, and shares plummeted a shocking 28% as the online-reviews site again lowered its full year outlook. The stock was down 19% on Wednesday. While 2017 was once seen as the year Yelp reached $1 billion in annual revenue, it now looks like even $900 million will be hard to reach after a second consecutive quarter of weak advertiser growth and declining forecasts.
Yelp YELP, -18.36% said that small emerging businesses had trouble competing in its ad system with some of the more established businesses. The company said it was able to stem the tide of advertiser revolts against its system of late, but not soon enough to prevent a dent.
