YELP INC — Call Transcript 2026

All right, great. Hi, everyone. I'm John Colantuoni from Jefferies Internet team. I'm joined by David Schwarzbach, Yelp's Chief Financial Officer. David, thanks for joining us today. Thanks, John, for having us at the conference. We'll be making some forward-looking statements during the conversation today that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on the risk factors that may affect our results. All right, great. Yelp's a company that's been around a long time. I think everyone in this room, everyone listening, at some point has probably used Yelp, and I would be surprised if it was not the case. Yelp's been on a journey. Things have been changing, evolving over time. Catch us up on where you are today. Yelp has changed quite a bit over the years. Of course, we still do reviews and have ratings, but the whole experience has evolved considerably from its earlier days. Folks are not generally familiar, but Yelp today has about 70% of its revenue coming from services, although best known for restaurants. About 30% of revenue comes from what we call restaurant, retail, and other categories. That's 85% of the traffic, but 30% of the ad revenue. That's a big change. Another big change is, in the past, Yelp was very much growing by adding sales headcount, and that sales headcount-driven growth model transitioned to really a product-led growth model. Now we enter this current era with obviously all the transformation that's coming about with AI, and we're really leaned in around that, both operationally and in the products that we're building. Yeah, AI, not a thing that a lot of people are talking about these days. I'm just kidding. AI is obviously something that Yelp is investing quite a bit behind. I think you're really starting to lay out a case for Yelp being an AI-first company in many regards. Talk a little bit about what you're doing in AI. Talk about what you're most excited about. Yeah. We have definitely leaned in, and we're in the midst of transforming both the consumer experience, the product experience, but also the way we work. The way that we're doing that is first, of course, the Yelp experience. The traditional search box is evolving. Returning links is evolving, and that's headed towards a conversation. The way we think about it is really providing answers, and answers in a conversational format. We recently released our new Yelp Assistant it's on the app, and there's a separate tab for it. What's really important about that now, because it's conversational, is it can be expressive, it can have personality, and it can explain to you why did it pick these search results. I think that's something that's extremely new. In the past, you got a set of search results. You may or may not know why you got those results. With the new Yelp Assistant, it actually first explains that. I think the second part is we know that LLMs have a lot of error associated with them from our own experiences using them. We present the evidence. Why do we believe that this is relevant to you, you can click through and see even more of that. The last part is, of course, in this era where agents can go and do things for you, we're really leaning in around enabling action. Answers and actions in a conversational format, that's very engaging. We're super excited about that early returns are very good around the product people like it they're engaging with it's still very early. That's the core Yelp experience, and that's going to be true for both the services side of the business as well as restaurant, retail, and other. Extending beyond that, we now have a product that we call Yelp Connect. We'll talk a little bit more about that, I'm sure that's where we have an AI voice answering the phone at a restaurant, and we started out with that being around answering questions or making a reservation. We now have in testing food orders over the phone, and that's a very complex product. We're proud of that product we recently acquired a company called Hatch. This is AI lead management, and it's really engaging with the consumer after they click on the ad to convert them into a lead. We're excited about what we're doing there. When you put all that together, the consumer-facing side is changing. What we're providing to businesses around AI tools are changing. I think something that's very promising is as we develop these capabilities for the consumer-facing or business-facing products, we can actually bring them internally and change the way that we're working. The voice product, for instance, we're now applying to the customer success organization, and things that we're developing internally we can apply to products that we are providing to consumers or businesses. An example of that is we now have an AI sales coach for our sales reps, and it helps them to be more effective on the phone. That's something that other businesses want to do as well, and so we're bringing that expertise, know-how, and technological capability into the products that we are looking to provide to businesses. It's really end-to-end, and over the long term, we see a tremendous boost in productivity that we can get from this and bringing a lot more products to market. Can we dig a little bit more into Yelp Assistant? Maybe you can give some specific examples about how that enhances the consumer experience, and then how you envision the enhancements that it provides, sort of helping drive KPIs that you care about, things like engagement, click-through, time spent, and then ultimately, what does that mean for your ability to monetize people's engagement on your platform? Yelp has this very rich set of reviews. They're text-based, they're human-generated, and they're very insightful into the experiences that people have had, and they're extensive. We do a tremendous amount to ensure their quality. We actually don't even display 25% of the reviews and ratings that we receive. We're really focused on quality. Why is that important for Yelp Assistant? The training data that goes into fine-tuning the Yelp Assistant in its responses, and also the depth of content that it can draw upon to create the answers for consumers really distinguishes the product in my mind. You add to that again, and I really want to emphasize this idea that in a conversation, the LLM can explain why did it select or why did we use our matching algorithm underneath to provide this particular recommendation to you. That is really, really differentiated because then you can engage with it, and I think this is the crucial word, engage with it, engagement, to refine what you're looking for. "No, no. I wasn't actually interested in that. I was interested in this." "Oh, okay. I didn't understand that. Let me give you these results. Does this better match what you're looking for?" Just that iteration with the person who is looking for a service pro or a restaurant, I think is very much a new interaction mode. Even beyond that and in time, although it's not something that's in the product today, it could be that, "Hey, I want to go to a restaurant. I want to be on the patio. We have kids." It could say, "Well, it's actually going to be raining. Are you sure you want to be on the patio? Perhaps you want to be indoors, but there's a place that's better for kids. We can start to incorporate lots of other pieces of information around the local experience into the Yelp Assistant. We think that there's a lot of breadth that we can bring, and that results in what's a very important metric to us, which is engagement and repeat visits. The better the quality, the more engaging it is, the more relevant it is, the confidence that you have in it because it provides the evidence, and then the actions that it can take on your behalf that are properly done, that we believe will lead to more engagement and more visits from consumers. Maybe we could talk a little bit about Hatch. It almost feels like Hatch is almost like the sort of Yelp Assistant for the advertiser. For people who aren't as familiar with the business, maybe you could just sort of from a high level explain what Hatch is and how you plan to integrate that into the lead flow on Yelp. Yeah. Hatch is an AI lead gen management product. After you click on an ad. This works across platforms. It's not just on Yelp, but if you come to Yelp, it actually engages with the consumer through text to begin with. We also have voice. It is going to ask questions. It's going to recommend a visit, or it's going to be able to inform the person about some of the capabilities that that particular service pro has, and this is for services, just to clarify. We acquired it in February, $270 million acquisition, $30 million of retention paid out over two to three years. The more that we have had the chance to really learn about the product and work with it, we're really impressed by its capabilities. We're obviously bringing that to advertisers on Yelp. Again, it's not limited to Yelp. It works across other platforms like Google, Angi, Thumbtack, and others. That's really an opportunity for us to move into this AI tools era, where you're providing businesses with capabilities that they may not otherwise have had access to in the past in a way that adds value to them and frees them up to really focus on driving their overall business we've been super pleased. In March, we hit $34 million in annual run rate revenue, growing at 92%. We were obviously very pleased with that. We're continuing to invest we've added sales folks. We're adding engineering capabilities. We're bringing know-how over and very pleased with that acquisition. Just sort of somewhat related, but I wanted to talk about sort of capital allocation. You bought the Hatch business. You also did a pretty high level of share repurchases in Q1. You've recommitted to continuing to do share repurchases. You also drew on a revolver, and sort of despite that, your cash balance is at a multi-year low. Just talk a little bit. Obviously, cash generative business, but just sort of talk about how to think about your decision to draw on the revolver, how you're thinking about capital allocation, anything that you think is sort of relevant in the context of all that. In the first quarter, we did deploy a considerable amount of capital, as I mentioned, $270 million to acquire Hatch. We also did repurchase $125 million in stock. Just for reference, from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, diluted shares declined 12%. That's obviously considerable what we have shared is that we don't expect to repurchase shares at nearly the same rate as we move through the rest of 2026. This is, though, a new era for Yelp. We've run consistently large cash balances in the business. It is very cash generative. In 2025, we generated $324 million in free cash flow that's obviously a very strong free cash flow margin, and we're pleased with that. It's a strong cash flowing business, and we will be providing, I think, more context and background for investors on the Q2 call around our go-forward view. Just for reference, at 331, we had $130 million in debt outstanding, $110 million in cash. Obviously we're at that basically net zero cash at the moment. We see the opportunity to use capital to further enhance the business as we go forward. We need to earn that right, we need to execute well on Hatch, we would definitely look to do additional acquisitions. We feel like we were really disciplined in the price that we paid for Hatch. We obviously were able to close a transaction with them and bring Hatch on board to Yelp, and we see plenty of opportunity to do more of that in the future. Again, we'll share more about capital allocation and our approach, particularly around debt, long-term debt, capital structure, when we get to the Q2 call. It feels increasingly like a land grab for AI companies to get user-generated content, and obviously Yelp has a lot of it, and it's been accumulated over a long period of time. You have started to sign some licensing agreements, and your expectations are that that's going to continue to sort of grow over time. Talk about how you think about the opportunity to generate revenue specifically from those arrangements, and how you might be able to leverage those arrangements to help drive some maybe top-of-funnel benefits for Yelp. From our perspective, companies that want to provide AI search need to have local AI search it's not enough to have general search. You have to have this vertical specific local search, because a significant proportion of queries from consumers have local content to them, somewhere on the order of call it 25%-50%. It's a wide range, but that's the estimate. We have a very complete directory we obviously have these high-quality reviews and ratings, and we've been able to enter into license agreements with quite a few different companies. You'll find Yelp licensed content on Apple Maps we've been there for some time. You'll also find it in Alexa, on Amazon, in Bing, you'll find it on Meta AI we recently entered into agreement with OpenAI. You'll find us on Yahoo. I think this thesis that Yelp has valuable content that folks want to be able to display to their consumers, that thesis is playing out and we're being paid for it, but it doesn't stop there. What we are finding is that when that content is displayed, those platforms want to display the Yelp logo. Why is that, because the Yelp logo has authority to it. The content is very high quality, and so when a visitor comes and they do that search and they see, say, a 4.2 rating, they know that they can rely on it because it has that Yelp logo associated with it. We think that gives us ubiquity and presence, and it's a form of brand advertising for us, and of course, we're associated with great brands in their own right. What I think is emerging is this perspective that consumers don't want to stop there because LLMs can make errors, consumers want to be able to see the evidence and click through to learn more, see more photos, read more reviews. We're optimistic about the potential it is still quite early around all of these AI search engines, but we feel like we're delivering real value to consumers and to those businesses, and we see an opportunity. You get this really strong and nice profile, which is we're earning licensing dollars, which is very, very high margin. We're putting our brand in front of folks when they're searching, and ideally, we'll also get traffic back. Let's go into the results recently, starting with the services business, which had been an area of strength for a number of years. More recently, it slowed. Talk a little bit about what you're seeing. What are the dynamics that are driving the business to see some slowdown? What's some initiatives that you have that you're putting behind the operations there to help drive sustainable growth over time? Services has been a real standout for us over the years and had very strong double-digit growth that decelerated in 2025 the first quarter was quite strong. Some of the macro shocks have really impacted, though, these local businesses and consumers. What we saw with last April around tariffs was actually a slowdown in advertising that persisted through 2025, continued into 2026. That dynamic also seemed to play out as the war with Iran emerged. That dynamic hasn't gone away where folks are feeling more pressured, I think, on the consumer front with higher price of gas and higher cost of groceries and things like that, so they're not quite as active. At the same time, there's been significant wage pressure for a lot of these businesses. When you have that, consumers doing a bit less and you have an increase in cost, then obviously margin gets compressed, and that has an impact on advertising. Now it grew 1% in the first quarter and we continue to invest heavily in that business to create experiences that will deliver value to advertisers while also enabling consumers to really get whatever job done that they need. Again, just go back to Yelp Assistant we'd started out with Yelp Assistant really was focused on services through our Request a Quote product. Request a Quote is where you answer a series of questions to get matched with pros. That's almost entirely monetized, and it has the benefit of really delivering value without being perceived as high ad load. That was where Yelp Assistant started. We're going to continue to invest there, and of course, we really want to deliver valuable leads to advertisers, and obviously Hatch is a part of that story because they increase the conversion from click to lead. We're going to continue to do a lot more around services, and we always want to lean in there and be positioned to take advantage of increased activity when it comes. Restaurant and retail and other. That's been one where that segment has been under some stress in recent years. Talk about sort of what's going on there, what you're doing to sort of help reinvigorate growth. Yeah. Restaurant, retail, and other has certainly been more pressured than services. The story is somewhat similar in that the input costs have risen pretty dramatically over the past several years. Again, there's wage, but there's also the cost of ingredients that are pressured margins. What we've seen is that advertisers with those pressured margins have pulled back in the amount of advertising. I think we've heard through a variety of their earnings calls from a number of restaurant companies that consumers are going out less frequently or trading down, and that certainly has added to the pressure there. That has emerged. At the margin, we've certainly see people shifting to delivery, and so that's a different channel that people are going through and advertisers are choosing to advertise on. At the very margin, that's certainly something that's been relevant. Again, as we've seen inflation tick up and people pressured with price at the pump, you just see people eating out less. I think there's just an unwillingness to continue to absorb these price increases that restaurants have had to do in order to just cover their costs. It's a very pressured part of the local economy, and we're certainly exposed to that. One of the reasons that I didn't mention, but that we have really focused on these AI tools is we have become more exposed to the cycle, the economic cycle, and we've wanted to diversify revenue and really lean in with our distribution capability in order to sell AI tools and add new revenue sources to Yelp. Just sort of continuing on there, I think in April, you mentioned seeing seasonal trends that were more consistent with what you would normally expect. Is that light at the end of the tunnel? Are you starting to see some improved macro dynamics? Maybe talk about what you saw there and how you factored that into your outlook for the second quarter and the rest of the year. I'll reserve my comments to when we made them on the earnings call and only speak to that date. We did see this dynamic that we saw in April of 2025, which is a flattening of what is typically a ramp in seasonal advertising. As spring comes, people get tax refunds, and the weather improves so that they can do work on the house or do landscaping work. Of course, people start to travel more. What we saw was an impact on that ad spend that was similar to what we saw in April of last year. That did improve somewhat as we got out of March and into April. We factor all that into the guidance that we provide, and obviously we're not sitting on our hands. We're not satisfied with the performance of the business, and we're continuing to iterate and evolve, bring more product to market. Of course, we're always focused through our sales force to be as efficient as we possibly can be. At the end of the day, we have to deliver value to both consumers and advertisers, and that's what we remain focused on. All right. I think we've got time for one more. Actually, I see one second, but I think we're going to do it anyway. All right. Let's talk about margins. You talked about investing for growth. You also talked about the opportunity to see margin expansion over time, strong growth in margins over time, over the next several years, I think is how you reference it. Talk a little bit about the dynamic of investing for growth today, and then sort of how you see the opportunity to drive margin expansion over time and what gets you there. Yeah. Just to start with 2026, we did guide lower than the performance that we saw in 2025. We delivered $365 million of adjusted EBITDA last year. We guided $310 million-$330 million this year. It is an investment year. I'd just point out other revenue for us, which consists of these AI tools, subscription, transaction revenue, and licensing grew 75% in the first quarter. We obviously made this large investment in Hatch, and we want to invest in it with that 92% growth that we saw in March. On the transaction side, we saw 88% growth in food delivery referrals. You've got a real signal that there's a great opportunity there. We want to lean in around that. At the same time, we also have seen the opportunity to invest in paid search to bring some more traffic to Yelp, and we've really refined that over the past two years to focus on mid-market and enterprise customers to deliver leads to folks who are willing to pay for that incremental lead. On top of all that, we are in the midst of this AI transformation. We don't want to miss out. We think that Yelp is a winner in this transition, and we think they're really good at applying AI to the experiences that we create for consumers and advertisers on Yelp. It's an investment year. It's an opportunity for us. As you said, this is emerging very rapidly. Businesses are adopting it, and we want to capture a market share around all of that. At the same time, what's very clear is that productivity is going to go up for the folks working, not just at Yelp, but I think it's going to be generally true to say the obvious. We see significant opportunity over the coming years to drive that productivity up, which we believe will lead to expanded, adjusted EBITDA margins. We're seeing that in product and engineering, where we're able to bring products to market much, much faster. Just as a very quick example, for our Yelp Host product, we realized that the TAM was going to be a lot bigger if we could do food ordering. It was maybe six, eight weeks between when we decided that and we actually had a food ordering product in market testing. That just was not possible in the past. By the way, food ordering is very complex, and if you think about it, this is voice. This is over the phone to do it accurately and to ensure that the customer picks up the right thing or when they come into the restaurant, that's not trivial. We've been really pleased with that quality. It's still very early, but I think that's just a reflection of the ability to drive revenue with the team that you have. Over the long term, I'm optimistic about the margin expansion potential for Yelp. David, thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having us.

Speaker 2: All right, great. Hi, everyone. I'm John Colantuoni from Jefferies Internet team. I'm joined by David Schwarzbach, Yelp's Chief Financial Officer. David, thanks for joining us today. All right, great. all right great Hi, everyone. hi everyone I'm John Colantuoni from Jefferies Internet team. i'm john colantuoni from jefferies internet team I'm joined by David Schwarzbach, Yelp's Chief Financial Officer. i'm joined by david schwarzbach yelp's chief financial officer David, thanks for joining us today. david thanks for joining us today

Speaker 1: Thanks, John, for having us at the conference. We'll be making some forward-looking statements during the conversation today that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on the risk factors that may affect our results. Thanks, John, for having us at the conference. thanks john for having us at the conference We'll be making some forward-looking statements during the conversation today that are subject to risks and uncertainties. we'll be making some forward-looking statements during the conversation today that are subject to risks and uncertainties Please refer to our SEC filings for more information on the risk factors that may affect our results. please refer to our sec filings for more information on the risk factors that may affect our results

Speaker 2: All right, great. Yelp's a company that's been around a long time. I think everyone in this room, everyone listening, at some point has probably used Yelp, and I would be surprised if it was not the case. Yelp's been on a journey. Things have been changing, evolving over time. Catch us up on where you are today. All right, great. all right great Yelp's a company that's been around a long time. yelp's a company that's been around a long time I think everyone in this room, everyone listening, at some point has probably used Yelp, and I would be surprised if it was not the case. i think everyone in this room everyone listening at some point has probably used yelp and i would be surprised if it was not the case Yelp's been on a journey. yelp's been on a journey Things have been changing, evolving over time. things have been changing evolving over time Catch us up on where you are today. catch us up on where you are today

Speaker 1: Yelp has changed quite a bit over the years. Of course, we still do reviews and have ratings, but the whole experience has evolved considerably from its earlier days. Folks are not generally familiar, but Yelp today has about 70% of its revenue coming from services, although best known for restaurants. About 30% of revenue comes from what we call restaurant, retail, and other categories. That's 85% of the traffic, but 30% of the ad revenue. Yelp has changed quite a bit over the years. yelp has changed quite a bit over the years Of course, we still do reviews and have ratings, but the whole experience has evolved considerably from its earlier days. of course we still do reviews and have ratings but the whole experience has evolved considerably from its earlier days Folks are not generally familiar, but Yelp today has about 70% of its revenue coming from services, although best known for restaurants. folks are not generally familiar but yelp today has about 70% of its revenue coming from services although best known for restaurants About 30% of revenue comes from what we call restaurant, retail, and other categories. about 30% of revenue comes from what we call restaurant retail and other categories That's 85% of the traffic, but 30% of the ad revenue. that's 85% of the traffic but 30% of the ad revenue That's a big change. Another big change is, in the past, Yelp was very much growing by adding sales headcount, and that sales headcount-driven growth model transitioned to really a product-led growth model. Now we enter this current era with obviously all the transformation that's coming about with AI, and we're really leaned in around that, both operationally and in the products that we're building. That's a big change. that's a big change Another big change is, in the past, Yelp was very much growing by adding sales headcount, and that sales headcount-driven growth model transitioned to really a product-led growth model. another big change is in the past yelp was very much growing by adding sales headcount and that sales headcount-driven growth model transitioned to really a product-led growth model Now we enter this current era with obviously all the transformation that's coming about with AI, and we're really leaned in around that, both operationally and in the products that we're building. now we enter this current era with obviously all the transformation that's coming about with ai and we're really leaned in around that both operationally and in the products that we're building

Speaker 2: Yeah, AI, not a thing that a lot of people are talking about these days. I'm just kidding. AI is obviously something that Yelp is investing quite a bit behind. I think you're really starting to lay out a case for Yelp being an AI-first company in many regards. Talk a little bit about what you're doing in AI. Talk about what you're most excited about. Yeah, AI, not a thing that a lot of people are talking about these days. yeah ai not a thing that a lot of people are talking about these days I'm just kidding. i'm just kidding AI is obviously something that Yelp is investing quite a bit behind. ai is obviously something that yelp is investing quite a bit behind I think you're really starting to lay out a case for Yelp being an AI-first company in many regards. i think you're really starting to lay out a case for yelp being an ai-first company in many regards Talk a little bit about what you're doing in AI. talk a little bit about what you're doing in ai Talk about what you're most excited about. talk about what you're most excited about

Speaker 1: Yeah. We have definitely leaned in, and we're in the midst of transforming both the consumer experience, the product experience, but also the way we work. The way that we're doing that is first, of course, the Yelp experience. The traditional search box is evolving. Returning links is evolving, and that's headed towards a conversation. The way we think about it is really providing answers, and answers in a conversational format. We recently released our new Yelp Assistant it's on the app, and there's a separate tab for it. Yeah. yeah We have definitely leaned in, and we're in the midst of transforming both the consumer experience, the product experience, but also the way we work. we have definitely leaned in and we're in the midst of transforming both the consumer experience the product experience but also the way we work The way that we're doing that is first, of course, the Yelp experience. the way that we're doing that is first of course the yelp experience The traditional search box is evolving. the traditional search box is evolving Returning links is evolving, and that's headed towards a conversation. returning links is evolving and that's headed towards a conversation The way we think about it is really providing answers, and answers in a conversational format. the way we think about it is really providing answers and answers in a conversational format We recently released our new Yelp Assistant i t's on the app, and there's a separate tab for it. we recently released our new yelp assistant i t's on the app and there's a separate tab for it What's really important about that now, because it's conversational, is it can be expressive, it can have personality, and it can explain to you why did it pick these search results. I think that's something that's extremely new. In the past, you got a set of search results. You may or may not know why you got those results. With the new Yelp Assistant, it actually first explains that. I think the second part is we know that LLMs have a lot of error associated with them from our own experiences using them. What's really important about that now, because it's conversational, is it can be expressive, it can have personality, and it can explain to you why did it pick these search results. what's really important about that now because it's conversational is it can be expressive it can have personality and it can explain to you why did it pick these search results I think that's something that's extremely new. i think that's something that's extremely new In the past, you got a set of search results. in the past you got a set of search results You may or may not know why you got those results. you may or may not know why you got those results With the new Yelp Assistant, it actually first explains that. with the new yelp assistant it actually first explains that I think the second part is we know that LLMs have a lot of error associated with them from our own experiences using them. i think the second part is we know that llms have a lot of error associated with them from our own experiences using them We present the evidence. Why do we believe that this is relevant to you, you can click through and see even more of that. The last part is, of course, in this era where agents can go and do things for you, we're really leaning in around enabling action. Answers and actions in a conversational format, that's very engaging. We're super excited about that early returns are very good around the product people like it they're engaging with it's still very early. We present the evidence. we present the evidence Why do we believe that this is relevant to you, y ou can click through and see even more of that. why do we believe that this is relevant to you, y ou can click through and see even more of that The last part is, of course, in this era where agents can go and do things for you, we're really leaning in around enabling action. the last part is of course in this era where agents can go and do things for you we're really leaning in around enabling action Answers and actions in a conversational format, that's very engaging. answers and actions in a conversational format that's very engaging We're super excited about that e arly returns are very good around the product p eople like it t hey're engaging with i t's still very early. we're super excited about that e arly returns are very good around the product p eople like it t hey're engaging with i t's still very early That's the core Yelp experience, and that's going to be true for both the services side of the business as well as restaurant, retail, and other. Extending beyond that, we now have a product that we call Yelp Connect. We'll talk a little bit more about that, I'm sure that's where we have an AI voice answering the phone at a restaurant, and we started out with that being around answering questions or making a reservation. We now have in testing food orders over the phone, and that's a very complex product. We're proud of that product we recently acquired a company called Hatch. That's the core Yelp experience, and that's going to be true for both the services side of the business as well as restaurant, retail, and other. that's the core yelp experience and that's going to be true for both the services side of the business as well as restaurant retail and other Extending beyond that, we now have a product that we call Yelp Connect. extending beyond that we now have a product that we call yelp connect We'll talk a little bit more about that, I'm sure t hat's where we have an AI voice answering the phone at a restaurant, and we started out with that being around answering questions or making a reservation. we'll talk a little bit more about that i'm sure t hat's where we have an ai voice answering the phone at a restaurant and we started out with that being around answering questions or making a reservation We now have in testing food orders over the phone, and that's a very complex product. we now have in testing food orders over the phone and that's a very complex product We're proud of that product w e recently acquired a company called Hatch. we're proud of that product w e recently acquired a company called hatch This is AI lead management, and it's really engaging with the consumer after they click on the ad to convert them into a lead. We're excited about what we're doing there. When you put all that together, the consumer-facing side is changing. What we're providing to businesses around AI tools are changing. I think something that's very promising is as we develop these capabilities for the consumer-facing or business-facing products, we can actually bring them internally and change the way that we're working. This is AI lead management, and it's really engaging with the consumer after they click on the ad to convert them into a lead. this is ai lead management and it's really engaging with the consumer after they click on the ad to convert them into a lead We're excited about what we're doing there. we're excited about what we're doing there When you put all that together, the consumer-facing side is changing. when you put all that together the consumer-facing side is changing What we're providing to businesses around AI tools are changing. what we're providing to businesses around ai tools are changing I think something that's very promising is as we develop these capabilities for the consumer-facing or business-facing products, we can actually bring them internally and change the way that we're working. i think something that's very promising is as we develop these capabilities for the consumer-facing or business-facing products we can actually bring them internally and change the way that we're working The voice product, for instance, we're now applying to the customer success organization, and things that we're developing internally we can apply to products that we are providing to consumers or businesses. An example of that is we now have an AI sales coach for our sales reps, and it helps them to be more effective on the phone. That's something that other businesses want to do as well, and so we're bringing that expertise, know-how, and technological capability into the products that we are looking to provide to businesses. It's really end-to-end, and over the long term, we see a tremendous boost in productivity that we can get from this and bringing a lot more products to market. The voice product, for instance, we're now applying to the customer success organization, and things that we're developing internally we can apply to products that we are providing to consumers or businesses. the voice product for instance we're now applying to the customer success organization and things that we're developing internally we can apply to products that we are providing to consumers or businesses An example of that is we now have an AI sales coach for our sales reps, and it helps them to be more effective on the phone. an example of that is we now have an ai sales coach for our sales reps and it helps them to be more effective on the phone That's something that other businesses want to do as well, and so we're bringing that expertise, know-how, and technological capability into the products that we are looking to provide to businesses. that's something that other businesses want to do as well and so we're bringing that expertise know-how and technological capability into the products that we are looking to provide to businesses It's really end-to-end, and over the long term, we see a tremendous boost in productivity that we can get from this and bringing a lot more products to market. it's really end-to-end and over the long term we see a tremendous boost in productivity that we can get from this and bringing a lot more products to market

Speaker 2: Can we dig a little bit more into Yelp Assistant? Maybe you can give some specific examples about how that enhances the consumer experience, and then how you envision the enhancements that it provides, sort of helping drive KPIs that you care about, things like engagement, click-through, time spent, and then ultimately, what does that mean for your ability to monetize people's engagement on your platform? Can we dig a little bit more into Yelp Assistant? can we dig a little bit more into yelp assistant Maybe you can give some specific examples about how that enhances the consumer experience, and then how you envision the enhancements that it provides, sort of helping drive KPIs that you care about, things like engagement, click-through, time spent, and then ultimately, what does that mean for your ability to monetize people's engagement on your platform? maybe you can give some specific examples about how that enhances the consumer experience and then how you envision the enhancements that it provides sort of helping drive kpis that you care about things like engagement click-through time spent and then ultimately what does that mean for your ability to monetize people's engagement on your platform

Speaker 1: Yelp has this very rich set of reviews. They're text-based, they're human-generated, and they're very insightful into the experiences that people have had, and they're extensive. We do a tremendous amount to ensure their quality. We actually don't even display 25% of the reviews and ratings that we receive. We're really focused on quality. Why is that important for Yelp Assistant? The training data that goes into fine-tuning the Yelp Assistant in its responses, and also the depth of content that it can draw upon to create the answers for consumers really distinguishes the product in my mind. Yelp has this very rich set of reviews. yelp has this very rich set of reviews They're text-based, they're human-generated, and they're very insightful into the experiences that people have had, and they're extensive. they're text-based they're human-generated and they're very insightful into the experiences that people have had and they're extensive We do a tremendous amount to ensure their quality. we do a tremendous amount to ensure their quality We actually don't even display 25% of the reviews and ratings that we receive. we actually don't even display 25% of the reviews and ratings that we receive We're really focused on quality. we're really focused on quality Why is that important for Yelp Assistant? why is that important for yelp assistant The training data that goes into fine-tuning the Yelp Assistant in its responses, and also the depth of content that it can draw upon to create the answers for consumers really distinguishes the product in my mind. the training data that goes into fine-tuning the yelp assistant in its responses and also the depth of content that it can draw upon to create the answers for consumers really distinguishes the product in my mind You add to that again, and I really want to emphasize this idea that in a conversation, the LLM can explain why did it select or why did we use our matching algorithm underneath to provide this particular recommendation to you. That is really, really differentiated because then you can engage with it, and I think this is the crucial word, engage with it, engagement, to refine what you're looking for. "No, no. I wasn't actually interested in that. You add to that again, and I really want to emphasize this idea that in a conversation, the LLM can explain why did it select or why did we use our matching algorithm underneath to provide this particular recommendation to you. you add to that again and i really want to emphasize this idea that in a conversation the llm can explain why did it select or why did we use our matching algorithm underneath to provide this particular recommendation to you That is really, really differentiated because then you can engage with it, and I think this is the crucial word, engage with it, engagement, to refine what you're looking for. "No, no. that is really really differentiated because then you can engage with it and i think this is the crucial word engage with it engagement to refine what you're looking for "no no I wasn't actually interested in that. i wasn't actually interested in that I was interested in this." "Oh, okay. I didn't understand that. Let me give you these results. Does this better match what you're looking for?" Just that iteration with the person who is looking for a service pro or a restaurant, I think is very much a new interaction mode. Even beyond that and in time, although it's not something that's in the product today, it could be that, "Hey, I want to go to a restaurant. I want to be on the patio. We have kids." It could say, "Well, it's actually going to be raining. Are you sure you want to be on the patio? I was interested in this." "Oh, okay. i was interested in this." "oh okay I didn't understand that. i didn't understand that Let me give you these results. let me give you these results Does this better match what you're looking for?" Just that iteration with the person who is looking for a service pro or a restaurant, I think is very much a new interaction mode. does this better match what you're looking for?" just that iteration with the person who is looking for a service pro or a restaurant i think is very much a new interaction mode Even beyond that and in time, although it's not something that's in the product today, it could be that, "Hey, I want to go to a restaurant. even beyond that and in time although it's not something that's in the product today it could be that "hey i want to go to a restaurant I want to be on the patio. i want to be on the patio We have kids." It could say, "Well, it's actually going to be raining. we have kids." it could say "well it's actually going to be raining Are you sure you want to be on the patio? are you sure you want to be on the patio Perhaps you want to be indoors, but there's a place that's better for kids. We can start to incorporate lots of other pieces of information around the local experience into the Yelp Assistant. We think that there's a lot of breadth that we can bring, and that results in what's a very important metric to us, which is engagement and repeat visits. The better the quality, the more engaging it is, the more relevant it is, the confidence that you have in it because it provides the evidence, and then the actions that it can take on your behalf that are properly done, that we believe will lead to more engagement and more visits from consumers. Perhaps you want to be indoors, but there's a place that's better for kids. perhaps you want to be indoors but there's a place that's better for kids We can start to incorporate lots of other pieces of information around the local experience into the Yelp Assistant. we can start to incorporate lots of other pieces of information around the local experience into the yelp assistant We think that there's a lot of breadth that we can bring, and that results in what's a very important metric to us, which is engagement and repeat visits. we think that there's a lot of breadth that we can bring and that results in what's a very important metric to us which is engagement and repeat visits The better the quality, the more engaging it is, the more relevant it is, the confidence that you have in it because it provides the evidence, and then the actions that it can take on your behalf that are properly done, that we believe will lead to more engagement and more visits from consumers. the better the quality the more engaging it is the more relevant it is the confidence that you have in it because it provides the evidence and then the actions that it can take on your behalf that are properly done that we believe will lead to more engagement and more visits from consumers

Speaker 2: Maybe we could talk a little bit about Hatch. It almost feels like Hatch is almost like the sort of Yelp Assistant for the advertiser. For people who aren't as familiar with the business, maybe you could just sort of from a high level explain what Hatch is and how you plan to integrate that into the lead flow on Yelp. Maybe we could talk a little bit about Hatch. maybe we could talk a little bit about hatch It almost feels like Hatch is almost like the sort of Yelp Assistant for the advertiser. it almost feels like hatch is almost like the sort of yelp assistant for the advertiser For people who aren't as familiar with the business, maybe you could just sort of from a high level explain what Hatch is and how you plan to integrate that into the lead flow on Yelp. for people who aren't as familiar with the business maybe you could just sort of from a high level explain what hatch is and how you plan to integrate that into the lead flow on yelp

Speaker 1: Yeah. Hatch is an AI lead gen management product. After you click on an ad. This works across platforms. It's not just on Yelp, but if you come to Yelp, it actually engages with the consumer through text to begin with. We also have voice. It is going to ask questions. It's going to recommend a visit, or it's going to be able to inform the person about some of the capabilities that that particular service pro has, and this is for services, just to clarify. Yeah. yeah Hatch is an AI lead gen management product. hatch is an ai lead gen management product After you click on an ad. after you click on an ad This works across platforms. this works across platforms It's not just on Yelp, but if you come to Yelp, it actually engages with the consumer through text to begin with. it's not just on yelp but if you come to yelp it actually engages with the consumer through text to begin with We also have voice. we also have voice It is going to ask questions. it is going to ask questions It's going to recommend a visit, or it's going to be able to inform the person about some of the capabilities that that particular service pro has, and this is for services, just to clarify. it's going to recommend a visit or it's going to be able to inform the person about some of the capabilities that that particular service pro has and this is for services just to clarify We acquired it in February, $270 million acquisition, $30 million of retention paid out over two to three years. The more that we have had the chance to really learn about the product and work with it, we're really impressed by its capabilities. We're obviously bringing that to advertisers on Yelp. Again, it's not limited to Yelp. It works across other platforms like Google, Angi, Thumbtack, and others. We acquired it in February, $270 million acquisition, $30 million of retention paid out over two to three years. we acquired it in february $270 million acquisition $30 million of retention paid out over two to three years The more that we have had the chance to really learn about the product and work with it, we're really impressed by its capabilities. the more that we have had the chance to really learn about the product and work with it we're really impressed by its capabilities We're obviously bringing that to advertisers on Yelp. we're obviously bringing that to advertisers on yelp Again, it's not limited to Yelp. again it's not limited to yelp It works across other platforms like Google, Angi, Thumbtack, and others. it works across other platforms like google angi thumbtack and others That's really an opportunity for us to move into this AI tools era, where you're providing businesses with capabilities that they may not otherwise have had access to in the past in a way that adds value to them and frees them up to really focus on driving their overall business we've been super pleased. In March, we hit $34 million in annual run rate revenue, growing at 92%. We were obviously very pleased with that. We're continuing to invest we've added sales folks. We're adding engineering capabilities. We're bringing know-how over and very pleased with that acquisition. That's really an opportunity for us to move into this AI tools era, where you're providing businesses with capabilities that they may not otherwise have had access to in the past in a way that adds value to them and frees them up to really focus on driving their overall business w e've been super pleased. that's really an opportunity for us to move into this ai tools era where you're providing businesses with capabilities that they may not otherwise have had access to in the past in a way that adds value to them and frees them up to really focus on driving their overall business w e've been super pleased In March, we hit $34 million in annual run rate revenue, growing at 92%. in march we hit $34 million in annual run rate revenue growing at 92% We were obviously very pleased with that. we were obviously very pleased with that We're continuing to invest w e've added sales folks. we're continuing to invest w e've added sales folks We're adding engineering capabilities. we're adding engineering capabilities We're bringing know-how over and very pleased with that acquisition. we're bringing know-how over and very pleased with that acquisition

Speaker 2: Just sort of somewhat related, but I wanted to talk about sort of capital allocation. You bought the Hatch business. You also did a pretty high level of share repurchases in Q1. You've recommitted to continuing to do share repurchases. You also drew on a revolver, and sort of despite that, your cash balance is at a multi-year low. Just talk a little bit. Obviously, cash generative business, but just sort of talk about how to think about your decision to draw on the revolver, how you're thinking about capital allocation, anything that you think is sort of relevant in the context of all that. Just sort of somewhat related, but I wanted to talk about sort of capital allocation. just sort of somewhat related but i wanted to talk about sort of capital allocation You bought the Hatch business. you bought the hatch business You also did a pretty high level of share repurchases in Q1. you also did a pretty high level of share repurchases in q1 You've recommitted to continuing to do share repurchases. you've recommitted to continuing to do share repurchases You also drew on a revolver, and sort of despite that, your cash balance is at a multi-year low. you also drew on a revolver and sort of despite that your cash balance is at a multi-year low Just talk a little bit. just talk a little bit Obviously, cash generative business, but just sort of talk about how to think about your decision to draw on the revolver, how you're thinking about capital allocation, anything that you think is sort of relevant in the context of all that. obviously cash generative business but just sort of talk about how to think about your decision to draw on the revolver how you're thinking about capital allocation anything that you think is sort of relevant in the context of all that

Speaker 1: In the first quarter, we did deploy a considerable amount of capital, as I mentioned, $270 million to acquire Hatch. We also did repurchase $125 million in stock. Just for reference, from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, diluted shares declined 12%. That's obviously considerable what we have shared is that we don't expect to repurchase shares at nearly the same rate as we move through the rest of 2026. In the first quarter, we did deploy a considerable amount of capital, as I mentioned, $270 million to acquire Hatch. in the first quarter we did deploy a considerable amount of capital as i mentioned $270 million to acquire hatch We also did repurchase $125 million in stock. we also did repurchase $125 million in stock Just for reference, from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, diluted shares declined 12%. just for reference from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026 diluted shares declined 12% That's obviously considerable w hat we have shared is that we don't expect to repurchase shares at nearly the same rate as we move through the rest of 2026. that's obviously considerable w hat we have shared is that we don't expect to repurchase shares at nearly the same rate as we move through the rest of 2026 This is, though, a new era for Yelp. We've run consistently large cash balances in the business. It is very cash generative. In 2025, we generated $324 million in free cash flow that's obviously a very strong free cash flow margin, and we're pleased with that. It's a strong cash flowing business, and we will be providing, I think, more context and background for investors on the Q2 call around our go-forward view. This is, though, a new era for Yelp. this is though a new era for yelp We've run consistently large cash balances in the business. we've run consistently large cash balances in the business It is very cash generative. it is very cash generative In 2025, we generated $324 million in free cash flow t hat's obviously a very strong free cash flow margin, and we're pleased with that. in 2025 we generated $324 million in free cash flow t hat's obviously a very strong free cash flow margin and we're pleased with that It's a strong cash flowing business, and we will be providing, I think, more context and background for investors on the Q2 call around our go-forward view. it's a strong cash flowing business and we will be providing i think more context and background for investors on the q2 call around our go-forward view Just for reference, at 331, we had $130 million in debt outstanding, $110 million in cash. Obviously we're at that basically net zero cash at the moment. We see the opportunity to use capital to further enhance the business as we go forward. We need to earn that right, we need to execute well on Hatch, we would definitely look to do additional acquisitions. Just for reference, at 331, we had $130 million in debt outstanding, $110 million in cash. just for reference at 331 we had $130 million in debt outstanding $110 million in cash Obviously we're at that basically net zero cash at the moment. obviously we're at that basically net zero cash at the moment We see the opportunity to use capital to further enhance the business as we go forward. we see the opportunity to use capital to further enhance the business as we go forward We need to earn that right, w e need to execute well on Hatch, w e would definitely look to do additional acquisitions. we need to earn that right, w e need to execute well on hatch, w e would definitely look to do additional acquisitions We feel like we were really disciplined in the price that we paid for Hatch. We obviously were able to close a transaction with them and bring Hatch on board to Yelp, and we see plenty of opportunity to do more of that in the future. Again, we'll share more about capital allocation and our approach, particularly around debt, long-term debt, capital structure, when we get to the Q2 call. We feel like we were really disciplined in the price that we paid for Hatch. we feel like we were really disciplined in the price that we paid for hatch We obviously were able to close a transaction with them and bring Hatch on board to Yelp, and we see plenty of opportunity to do more of that in the future. we obviously were able to close a transaction with them and bring hatch on board to yelp and we see plenty of opportunity to do more of that in the future Again, we'll share more about capital allocation and our approach, particularly around debt, long-term debt, capital structure, when we get to the Q2 call. again we'll share more about capital allocation and our approach particularly around debt long-term debt capital structure when we get to the q2 call

Speaker 2: It feels increasingly like a land grab for AI companies to get user-generated content, and obviously Yelp has a lot of it, and it's been accumulated over a long period of time. You have started to sign some licensing agreements, and your expectations are that that's going to continue to sort of grow over time. Talk about how you think about the opportunity to generate revenue specifically from those arrangements, and how you might be able to leverage those arrangements to help drive some maybe top-of-funnel benefits for Yelp. It feels increasingly like a land grab for AI companies to get user-generated content, and obviously Yelp has a lot of it, and it's been accumulated over a long period of time. it feels increasingly like a land grab for ai companies to get user-generated content and obviously yelp has a lot of it and it's been accumulated over a long period of time You have started to sign some licensing agreements, and your expectations are that that's going to continue to sort of grow over time. you have started to sign some licensing agreements and your expectations are that that's going to continue to sort of grow over time Talk about how you think about the opportunity to generate revenue specifically from those arrangements, and how you might be able to leverage those arrangements to help drive some maybe top-of-funnel benefits for Yelp. talk about how you think about the opportunity to generate revenue specifically from those arrangements and how you might be able to leverage those arrangements to help drive some maybe top-of-funnel benefits for yelp

Speaker 1: From our perspective, companies that want to provide AI search need to have local AI search it's not enough to have general search. You have to have this vertical specific local search, because a significant proportion of queries from consumers have local content to them, somewhere on the order of call it 25%-50%. It's a wide range, but that's the estimate. We have a very complete directory we obviously have these high-quality reviews and ratings, and we've been able to enter into license agreements with quite a few different companies. You'll find Yelp licensed content on Apple Maps we've been there for some time. You'll also find it in Alexa, on Amazon, in Bing, you'll find it on Meta AI we recently entered into agreement with OpenAI. You'll find us on Yahoo. From our perspective, companies that want to provide AI search need to have local AI search i t's not enough to have general search. from our perspective companies that want to provide ai search need to have local ai search i t's not enough to have general search You have to have this vertical specific local search, because a significant proportion of queries from consumers have local content to them, somewhere on the order of call it 25%-50%. you have to have this vertical specific local search because a significant proportion of queries from consumers have local content to them somewhere on the order of call it 25%-50% It's a wide range, but that's the estimate. it's a wide range but that's the estimate We have a very complete directory w e obviously have these high-quality reviews and ratings, and we've been able to enter into license agreements with quite a few different companies. we have a very complete directory w e obviously have these high-quality reviews and ratings and we've been able to enter into license agreements with quite a few different companies You'll find Yelp licensed content on Apple Maps w e've been there for some time. you'll find yelp licensed content on apple maps w e've been there for some time You'll also find it in Alexa, on Amazon, in Bing, y ou'll find it on Meta AI w e recently entered into agreement with OpenAI. you'll also find it in alexa on amazon in bing, y ou'll find it on meta ai w e recently entered into agreement with openai You'll find us on Yahoo. you'll find us on yahoo I think this thesis that Yelp has valuable content that folks want to be able to display to their consumers, that thesis is playing out and we're being paid for it, but it doesn't stop there. What we are finding is that when that content is displayed, those platforms want to display the Yelp logo. Why is that, because the Yelp logo has authority to it. The content is very high quality, and so when a visitor comes and they do that search and they see, say, a 4.2 rating, they know that they can rely on it because it has that Yelp logo associated with it. We think that gives us ubiquity and presence, and it's a form of brand advertising for us, and of course, we're associated with great brands in their own right. I think this thesis that Yelp has valuable content that folks want to be able to display to their consumers, that thesis is playing out and we're being paid for it, but it doesn't stop there. i think this thesis that yelp has valuable content that folks want to be able to display to their consumers that thesis is playing out and we're being paid for it but it doesn't stop there What we are finding is that when that content is displayed, those platforms want to display the Yelp logo. what we are finding is that when that content is displayed those platforms want to display the yelp logo Why is that, b ecause the Yelp logo has authority to it. why is that, b ecause the yelp logo has authority to it The content is very high quality, and so when a visitor comes and they do that search and they see, say, a 4.2 rating, they know that they can rely on it because it has that Yelp logo associated with it. the content is very high quality and so when a visitor comes and they do that search and they see say a 4.2 rating they know that they can rely on it because it has that yelp logo associated with it We think that gives us ubiquity and presence, and it's a form of brand advertising for us, and of course, we're associated with great brands in their own right. we think that gives us ubiquity and presence and it's a form of brand advertising for us and of course we're associated with great brands in their own right What I think is emerging is this perspective that consumers don't want to stop there because LLMs can make errors, consumers want to be able to see the evidence and click through to learn more, see more photos, read more reviews. We're optimistic about the potential it is still quite early around all of these AI search engines, but we feel like we're delivering real value to consumers and to those businesses, and we see an opportunity. You get this really strong and nice profile, which is we're earning licensing dollars, which is very, very high margin. We're putting our brand in front of folks when they're searching, and ideally, we'll also get traffic back. What I think is emerging is this perspective that consumers don't want to stop there b ecause LLMs can make errors, consumers want to be able to see the evidence and click through to learn more, see more photos, read more reviews. what i think is emerging is this perspective that consumers don't want to stop there b ecause llms can make errors consumers want to be able to see the evidence and click through to learn more see more photos read more reviews We're optimistic about the potential i t is still quite early around all of these AI search engines, but we feel like we're delivering real value to consumers and to those businesses, and we see an opportunity. we're optimistic about the potential i t is still quite early around all of these ai search engines but we feel like we're delivering real value to consumers and to those businesses and we see an opportunity You get this really strong and nice profile, which is we're earning licensing dollars, which is very, very high margin. you get this really strong and nice profile which is we're earning licensing dollars which is very very high margin We're putting our brand in front of folks when they're searching, and ideally, we'll also get traffic back. we're putting our brand in front of folks when they're searching and ideally we'll also get traffic back

Speaker 2: Let's go into the results recently, starting with the services business, which had been an area of strength for a number of years. More recently, it slowed. Talk a little bit about what you're seeing. What are the dynamics that are driving the business to see some slowdown? What's some initiatives that you have that you're putting behind the operations there to help drive sustainable growth over time? Let's go into the results recently, starting with the services business, which had been an area of strength for a number of years. let's go into the results recently starting with the services business which had been an area of strength for a number of years More recently, it slowed. more recently it slowed Talk a little bit about what you're seeing. talk a little bit about what you're seeing What are the dynamics that are driving the business to see some slowdown? what are the dynamics that are driving the business to see some slowdown What's some initiatives that you have that you're putting behind the operations there to help drive sustainable growth over time? what's some initiatives that you have that you're putting behind the operations there to help drive sustainable growth over time

Speaker 1: Services has been a real standout for us over the years and had very strong double-digit growth that decelerated in 2025 the first quarter was quite strong. Some of the macro shocks have really impacted, though, these local businesses and consumers. What we saw with last April around tariffs was actually a slowdown in advertising that persisted through 2025, continued into 2026. That dynamic also seemed to play out as the war with Iran emerged. Services has been a real standout for us over the years and had very strong double-digit growth th at decelerated in 2025 t he first quarter was quite strong. services has been a real standout for us over the years and had very strong double-digit growth th at decelerated in 2025 t he first quarter was quite strong Some of the macro shocks have really impacted, though, these local businesses and consumers. some of the macro shocks have really impacted though these local businesses and consumers What we saw with last April around tariffs was actually a slowdown in advertising that persisted through 2025, continued into 2026. what we saw with last april around tariffs was actually a slowdown in advertising that persisted through 2025 continued into 2026 That dynamic also seemed to play out as the war with Iran emerged. that dynamic also seemed to play out as the war with iran emerged That dynamic hasn't gone away where folks are feeling more pressured, I think, on the consumer front with higher price of gas and higher cost of groceries and things like that, so they're not quite as active. At the same time, there's been significant wage pressure for a lot of these businesses. When you have that, consumers doing a bit less and you have an increase in cost, then obviously margin gets compressed, and that has an impact on advertising. Now it grew 1% in the first quarter and we continue to invest heavily in that business to create experiences that will deliver value to advertisers while also enabling consumers to really get whatever job done that they need. That dynamic hasn't gone away where folks are feeling more pressured, I think, on the consumer front with higher price of gas and higher cost of groceries and things like that, so they're not quite as active. that dynamic hasn't gone away where folks are feeling more pressured i think on the consumer front with higher price of gas and higher cost of groceries and things like that so they're not quite as active At the same time, there's been significant wage pressure for a lot of these businesses. at the same time there's been significant wage pressure for a lot of these businesses When you have that, consumers doing a bit less and you have an increase in cost, then obviously margin gets compressed, and that has an impact on advertising. when you have that consumers doing a bit less and you have an increase in cost then obviously margin gets compressed and that has an impact on advertising Now it grew 1% in the first quarter and we continue to invest heavily in that business to create experiences that will deliver value to advertisers while also enabling consumers to really get whatever job done that they need. now it grew 1% in the first quarter and we continue to invest heavily in that business to create experiences that will deliver value to advertisers while also enabling consumers to really get whatever job done that they need Again, just go back to Yelp Assistant we'd started out with Yelp Assistant really was focused on services through our Request a Quote product. Request a Quote is where you answer a series of questions to get matched with pros. That's almost entirely monetized, and it has the benefit of really delivering value without being perceived as high ad load. That was where Yelp Assistant started. Again, just go back to Yelp Assistant w e'd started out with Yelp Assistant really was focused on services through our Request a Quote product. again just go back to yelp assistant w e'd started out with yelp assistant really was focused on services through our request a quote product Request a Quote is where you answer a series of questions to get matched with pros. request a quote is where you answer a series of questions to get matched with pros That's almost entirely monetized, and it has the benefit of really delivering value without being perceived as high ad load. that's almost entirely monetized and it has the benefit of really delivering value without being perceived as high ad load That was where Yelp Assistant started. that was where yelp assistant started We're going to continue to invest there, and of course, we really want to deliver valuable leads to advertisers, and obviously Hatch is a part of that story because they increase the conversion from click to lead. We're going to continue to do a lot more around services, and we always want to lean in there and be positioned to take advantage of increased activity when it comes. We're going to continue to invest there, and of course, we really want to deliver valuable leads to advertisers, and obviously Hatch is a part of that story because they increase the conversion from click to lead. we're going to continue to invest there and of course we really want to deliver valuable leads to advertisers and obviously hatch is a part of that story because they increase the conversion from click to lead We're going to continue to do a lot more around services, and we always want to lean in there and be positioned to take advantage of increased activity when it comes. we're going to continue to do a lot more around services and we always want to lean in there and be positioned to take advantage of increased activity when it comes

Speaker 2: Restaurant and retail and other. That's been one where that segment has been under some stress in recent years. Talk about sort of what's going on there, what you're doing to sort of help reinvigorate growth. Restaurant and retail and other. restaurant and retail and other That's been one where that segment has been under some stress in recent years. that's been one where that segment has been under some stress in recent years Talk about sort of what's going on there, what you're doing to sort of help reinvigorate growth. talk about sort of what's going on there what you're doing to sort of help reinvigorate growth

Speaker 1: Yeah. Restaurant, retail, and other has certainly been more pressured than services. The story is somewhat similar in that the input costs have risen pretty dramatically over the past several years. Again, there's wage, but there's also the cost of ingredients that are pressured margins. What we've seen is that advertisers with those pressured margins have pulled back in the amount of advertising. I think we've heard through a variety of their earnings calls from a number of restaurant companies that consumers are going out less frequently or trading down, and that certainly has added to the pressure there. Yeah. yeah Restaurant, retail, and other has certainly been more pressured than services. restaurant retail and other has certainly been more pressured than services The story is somewhat similar in that the input costs have risen pretty dramatically over the past several years. the story is somewhat similar in that the input costs have risen pretty dramatically over the past several years Again, there's wage, but there's also the cost of ingredients that are pressured margins. again there's wage but there's also the cost of ingredients that are pressured margins What we've seen is that advertisers with those pressured margins have pulled back in the amount of advertising. what we've seen is that advertisers with those pressured margins have pulled back in the amount of advertising I think we've heard through a variety of their earnings calls from a number of restaurant companies that consumers are going out less frequently or trading down, and that certainly has added to the pressure there. i think we've heard through a variety of their earnings calls from a number of restaurant companies that consumers are going out less frequently or trading down and that certainly has added to the pressure there That has emerged. At the margin, we've certainly see people shifting to delivery, and so that's a different channel that people are going through and advertisers are choosing to advertise on. At the very margin, that's certainly something that's been relevant. Again, as we've seen inflation tick up and people pressured with price at the pump, you just see people eating out less. I think there's just an unwillingness to continue to absorb these price increases that restaurants have had to do in order to just cover their costs. That has emerged. that has emerged At the margin, we've certainly see people shifting to delivery, and so that's a different channel that people are going through and advertisers are choosing to advertise on. at the margin we've certainly see people shifting to delivery and so that's a different channel that people are going through and advertisers are choosing to advertise on At the very margin, that's certainly something that's been relevant. at the very margin that's certainly something that's been relevant Again, as we've seen inflation tick up and people pressured with price at the pump, you just see people eating out less. again as we've seen inflation tick up and people pressured with price at the pump you just see people eating out less I think there's just an unwillingness to continue to absorb these price increases that restaurants have had to do in order to just cover their costs. i think there's just an unwillingness to continue to absorb these price increases that restaurants have had to do in order to just cover their costs It's a very pressured part of the local economy, and we're certainly exposed to that. One of the reasons that I didn't mention, but that we have really focused on these AI tools is we have become more exposed to the cycle, the economic cycle, and we've wanted to diversify revenue and really lean in with our distribution capability in order to sell AI tools and add new revenue sources to Yelp. It's a very pressured part of the local economy, and we're certainly exposed to that. it's a very pressured part of the local economy and we're certainly exposed to that One of the reasons that I didn't mention, but that we have really focused on these AI tools is we have become more exposed to the cycle, the economic cycle, and we've wanted to diversify revenue and really lean in with our distribution capability in order to sell AI tools and add new revenue sources to Yelp. one of the reasons that i didn't mention but that we have really focused on these ai tools is we have become more exposed to the cycle the economic cycle and we've wanted to diversify revenue and really lean in with our distribution capability in order to sell ai tools and add new revenue sources to yelp

Speaker 2: Just sort of continuing on there, I think in April, you mentioned seeing seasonal trends that were more consistent with what you would normally expect. Is that light at the end of the tunnel? Are you starting to see some improved macro dynamics? Maybe talk about what you saw there and how you factored that into your outlook for the second quarter and the rest of the year. Just sort of continuing on there, I think in April, you mentioned seeing seasonal trends that were more consistent with what you would normally expect. just sort of continuing on there i think in april you mentioned seeing seasonal trends that were more consistent with what you would normally expect Is that light at the end of the tunnel? is that light at the end of the tunnel Are you starting to see some improved macro dynamics? are you starting to see some improved macro dynamics Maybe talk about what you saw there and how you factored that into your outlook for the second quarter and the rest of the year. maybe talk about what you saw there and how you factored that into your outlook for the second quarter and the rest of the year

Speaker 1: I'll reserve my comments to when we made them on the earnings call and only speak to that date. We did see this dynamic that we saw in April of 2025, which is a flattening of what is typically a ramp in seasonal advertising. As spring comes, people get tax refunds, and the weather improves so that they can do work on the house or do landscaping work. Of course, people start to travel more. What we saw was an impact on that ad spend that was similar to what we saw in April of last year. That did improve somewhat as we got out of March and into April. We factor all that into the guidance that we provide, and obviously we're not sitting on our hands. I'll reserve my comments to when we made them on the earnings call and only speak to that date. i'll reserve my comments to when we made them on the earnings call and only speak to that date We did see this dynamic that we saw in April of 2025, which is a flattening of what is typically a ramp in seasonal advertising. we did see this dynamic that we saw in april of 2025 which is a flattening of what is typically a ramp in seasonal advertising As spring comes, people get tax refunds, and the weather improves so that they can do work on the house or do landscaping work. as spring comes people get tax refunds and the weather improves so that they can do work on the house or do landscaping work Of course, people start to travel more. of course people start to travel more What we saw was an impact on that ad spend that was similar to what we saw in April of last year. what we saw was an impact on that ad spend that was similar to what we saw in april of last year That did improve somewhat as we got out of March and into April. that did improve somewhat as we got out of march and into april We factor all that into the guidance that we provide, and obviously we're not sitting on our hands. we factor all that into the guidance that we provide and obviously we're not sitting on our hands We're not satisfied with the performance of the business, and we're continuing to iterate and evolve, bring more product to market. Of course, we're always focused through our sales force to be as efficient as we possibly can be. At the end of the day, we have to deliver value to both consumers and advertisers, and that's what we remain focused on. We're not satisfied with the performance of the business, and we're continuing to iterate and evolve, bring more product to market. we're not satisfied with the performance of the business and we're continuing to iterate and evolve bring more product to market Of course, we're always focused through our sales force to be as efficient as we possibly can be. of course we're always focused through our sales force to be as efficient as we possibly can be At the end of the day, we have to deliver value to both consumers and advertisers, and that's what we remain focused on. at the end of the day we have to deliver value to both consumers and advertisers and that's what we remain focused on

Speaker 2: All right. I think we've got time for one more. Actually, I see one second, but I think we're going to do it anyway. All right. Let's talk about margins. You talked about investing for growth. You also talked about the opportunity to see margin expansion over time, strong growth in margins over time, over the next several years, I think is how you reference it. Talk a little bit about the dynamic of investing for growth today, and then sort of how you see the opportunity to drive margin expansion over time and what gets you there. All right. all right I think we've got time for one more. i think we've got time for one more Actually, I see one second, but I think we're going to do it anyway. actually i see one second but i think we're going to do it anyway All right. all right Let's talk about margins. let's talk about margins You talked about investing for growth. you talked about investing for growth You also talked about the opportunity to see margin expansion over time, strong growth in margins over time, over the next several years, I think is how you reference it. you also talked about the opportunity to see margin expansion over time strong growth in margins over time over the next several years i think is how you reference it Talk a little bit about the dynamic of investing for growth today, and then sort of how you see the opportunity to drive margin expansion over time and what gets you there. talk a little bit about the dynamic of investing for growth today and then sort of how you see the opportunity to drive margin expansion over time and what gets you there

Speaker 1: Yeah. Just to start with 2026, we did guide lower than the performance that we saw in 2025. We delivered $365 million of adjusted EBITDA last year. We guided $310 million-$330 million this year. It is an investment year. I'd just point out other revenue for us, which consists of these AI tools, subscription, transaction revenue, and licensing grew 75% in the first quarter. We obviously made this large investment in Hatch, and we want to invest in it with that 92% growth that we saw in March. On the transaction side, we saw 88% growth in food delivery referrals. You've got a real signal that there's a great opportunity there. We want to lean in around that. Yeah. yeah Just to start w ith 2026, we did guide lower than the performance that we saw in 2025. just to start w ith 2026 we did guide lower than the performance that we saw in 2025 We delivered $365 million of adjusted EBITDA last year. we delivered $365 million of adjusted ebitda last year We guided $310 million-$330 million this year. we guided $310 million-$330 million this year It is an investment year. it is an investment year I'd just point out other revenue for us, which consists of these AI tools, subscription, transaction revenue, and licensing grew 75% in the first quarter. i'd just point out other revenue for us which consists of these ai tools subscription transaction revenue and licensing grew 75% in the first quarter We obviously made this large investment in Hatch, and we want to invest in it with that 92% growth that we saw in March. we obviously made this large investment in hatch and we want to invest in it with that 92% growth that we saw in march On the transaction side, we saw 88% growth in food delivery referrals. on the transaction side we saw 88% growth in food delivery referrals You've got a real signal that there's a great opportunity there. you've got a real signal that there's a great opportunity there We want to lean in around that. we want to lean in around that At the same time, we also have seen the opportunity to invest in paid search to bring some more traffic to Yelp, and we've really refined that over the past two years to focus on mid-market and enterprise customers to deliver leads to folks who are willing to pay for that incremental lead. On top of all that, we are in the midst of this AI transformation. We don't want to miss out. We think that Yelp is a winner in this transition, and we think they're really good at applying AI to the experiences that we create for consumers and advertisers on Yelp. It's an investment year. It's an opportunity for us. As you said, this is emerging very rapidly. Businesses are adopting it, and we want to capture a market share around all of that. At the same time, we also have seen the opportunity to invest in paid search to bring some more traffic to Yelp, and we've really refined that over the past two years to focus on mid-market and enterprise customers to deliver leads to folks who are willing to pay for that incremental lead. at the same time we also have seen the opportunity to invest in paid search to bring some more traffic to yelp and we've really refined that over the past two years to focus on mid-market and enterprise customers to deliver leads to folks who are willing to pay for that incremental lead On top of all that, we are in the midst of this AI transformation. on top of all that we are in the midst of this ai transformation We don't want to miss out. we don't want to miss out We think that Yelp is a winner in this transition, and we think they're really good at applying AI to the experiences that we create for consumers and advertisers on Yelp. we think that yelp is a winner in this transition and we think they're really good at applying ai to the experiences that we create for consumers and advertisers on yelp It's an investment year. it's an investment year It's an opportunity for us. it's an opportunity for us As you said, this is emerging very rapidly. as you said this is emerging very rapidly Businesses are adopting it, and we want to capture a market share around all of that. businesses are adopting it and we want to capture a market share around all of that At the same time, what's very clear is that productivity is going to go up for the folks working, not just at Yelp, but I think it's going to be generally true to say the obvious. We see significant opportunity over the coming years to drive that productivity up, which we believe will lead to expanded, adjusted EBITDA margins. We're seeing that in product and engineering, where we're able to bring products to market much, much faster. At the same time, what's very clear is that productivity is going to go up for the folks working, not just at Yelp, but I think it's going to be generally true to say the obvious. at the same time what's very clear is that productivity is going to go up for the folks working not just at yelp but i think it's going to be generally true to say the obvious We see significant opportunity over the coming years to drive that productivity up, which we believe will lead to expanded, adjusted EBITDA margins. we see significant opportunity over the coming years to drive that productivity up which we believe will lead to expanded adjusted ebitda margins We're seeing that in product and engineering, where we're able to bring products to market much, much faster. we're seeing that in product and engineering where we're able to bring products to market much much faster Just as a very quick example, for our Yelp Host product, we realized that the TAM was going to be a lot bigger if we could do food ordering. It was maybe six, eight weeks between when we decided that and we actually had a food ordering product in market testing. That just was not possible in the past. By the way, food ordering is very complex, and if you think about it, this is voice. Just as a very quick example, for our Yelp Host product, we realized that the TAM was going to be a lot bigger if we could do food ordering. just as a very quick example for our yelp host product we realized that the tam was going to be a lot bigger if we could do food ordering It was maybe six, eight weeks between when we decided that and we actually had a food ordering product in market testing. it was maybe six eight weeks between when we decided that and we actually had a food ordering product in market testing That just was not possible in the past. that just was not possible in the past By the way, food ordering is very complex, and if you think about it, this is voice. by the way food ordering is very complex and if you think about it this is voice This is over the phone to do it accurately and to ensure that the customer picks up the right thing or when they come into the restaurant, that's not trivial. We've been really pleased with that quality. It's still very early, but I think that's just a reflection of the ability to drive revenue with the team that you have. Over the long term, I'm optimistic about the margin expansion potential for Yelp. This is over the phone to do it accurately and to ensure that the customer picks up the right thing or when they come into the restaurant, that's not trivial. this is over the phone to do it accurately and to ensure that the customer picks up the right thing or when they come into the restaurant that's not trivial We've been really pleased with that quality. we've been really pleased with that quality It's still very early, but I think that's just a reflection of the ability to drive revenue with the team that you have. it's still very early but i think that's just a reflection of the ability to drive revenue with the team that you have Over the long term, I'm optimistic about the margin expansion potential for Yelp. over the long term i'm optimistic about the margin expansion potential for yelp

Speaker 2: David, thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate it. David, thank you so much for joining us today. david thank you so much for joining us today Really appreciate it. really appreciate it

Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having us. Thanks so much for having us. thanks so much for having us