M&A Rumor Mill: Does Priceline Acquiring Yelp Make Sense?

As earnings season begins, the market has seen a recent uptick in M&A chatter. Among the names being mentioned for a takeover include local business review site Yelp. To help break down the validity of the rumor, Benzinga reached out to Benchmark Equity Analyst Daniel Kurnos.

In exclusive comments to Benzinga, Kurnos mentions that a combination of Priceline Group Inc PCLN and Yelp Inc YELP has been "talked about a million times in the past."

Going further on the potential of a takeover, Kurnos says that he thinks that a combination of Yelp and GrubHub Inc. GRUB would make the most sense. However, he does note that Yelp would be a nice addition to Priceline's OpenTable, which is trying to be a one-stop-shop for local travel.

On November 12th, Kurnos came onto Benzinga's Pre-Market Prep show and highlighted IAC's bid for Angie's List. In the interview, he mentions that Yelp would "certainly be an interesting stock to pay attention to here." Commenting that the company has "multiple angles", particularly in travel and local, that would put the company "on the radar for some of the larger players." To listen to Kurnos breakdown, click the 'highlighted' link and scroll to the 1:35 mark on the recording.

Shares of Yelp saw an initial spike from $22.03 to $22.87, before returning to pre-chatter levels. Yelp stock is trading up 1.8% on the day at $22.05/share.