Yelp reports surprise loss, revenue forecast disappoints

The company also reported its slowest revenue growth in 18 quarters in the three months ended June 30, and said Chairman Max Levchin would step down "to pursue other interests."

Yelp, whose shares fell as much as 16 percent in extended trading, said it expected to report net revenue of $139 million-$142 million in the third quarter - well below the $152.6 million average analyst estimate.

Yelp's subscriber growth has been slowing in a crowded market. Competitors include Google Inc , TripAdvisor Inc and GrubHub Inc .

To counter increasing competition at home, the company has been trying to expand outside the United States as well as diversify into other services such as restaurant bookings, event management and payments.

Yelp's revenue rose 50.8 percent to $133.9 million in the latest quarter, slightly beating the average estimate, as the company added more local advertisers.

However, Yelp reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $1.3 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with a profit of $2.7 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 1 cent per share and revenue of $133.5 million.

Yelp put itself on the block earlier this year but later decided not to pursue a sale immediately, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

Up to Tuesday's close of $33.51, Yelp's shares had fallen about 39 percent since the start of the year.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)