• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 24, 2012

Yelp this week agreed to buy Qype -- its biggest European rival -- for about $50 million in cash and stock.
 
With Qype, Yelp will boast 93 million monthly unique visitors and 32 million reviews, Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said Wednesday. “It’s a beautiful thing, really,” as he puts it.
 
The 8-year-old reviews site -- which went public in March -- is on a mission to become “the defacto choice for local search globally,” according to Stoppelman.
 
To date, Yelp now has established communities in 19 countries around the world.
 
Buying Qype will improve Yelp’s prospects in Europe, according to Tom White, an analyst at Macquarie Capital. “The Qype deal should help Yelp accelerate its expansion into Europe,” White wrote in a research note released Wednesday.
 
Faring better than many Internet stocks, Yelp also said it now expects third-quarter revenue to reach $36.4 million, exceeding its prior forecast.
 
This summer, Yelp reported second-quarter revenue of nearly $33 million -- up 19% from the previous quarter, and up 67% year-over-year -- driven by continued top-line revenue growth. It reports a smaller net loss than in previous quarters.
 
That said, Web watchers are still waiting for Yelp to turn a profit. If the company’s revised third-quarter guidance is correct, it will still see a net loss of $2 million.
 
Looking ahead, Stoppelman said Wednesday: “We don’t want to disrupt the consumer experience, so we are going to take a deliberate approach to integrating our products, starting with mobile.”
 
Yelp is scheduled to report its full third-quarter financial results on Nov. 1.