Carol Bartz is showing quite a bit of interest in acquiring Yelp. She was recently interviewed by Brian Womack and was asked about buying the site that’s known for its fast-growing collection of local reviews. Bartz, who’s known for speaking plainly, didn’t give a definite “yes” or “no” answer.
Instead, YAHOO!’s CEO said, “Local is extremely important. People do some outrageous percentage of their commercial spending five miles from their home.” Even though Bartz’s answer isn’t exactly affirmative, the odds favor anything happening. The rumor mill later year indicated that Google is trying to acquire Yelp, with Google’s popularity & deeper pockets couldn’t secure a deal, it’s difficult to imagine YAHOO! succeeding.
This isn’t a definite “YAHOO! will acquire Yelp” announcement so much as an exercise in parsing CEO’s sentences.