# Jeremy Stoppelman

> Jeremy Stoppelman is the co-founder and CEO of Yelp, the local reviews platform he built after getting the flu in 2004 and being unable to find a doctor online. A PayPal Mafia veteran who rose to VP of Engineering before dropping out of Harvard Business School, Stoppelman turned a $1M seed check from Max Levchin into a public company with 308 million reviews and $1.4 billion in annual revenue. He has spent two decades fighting Google's search monopoly, championing remote work and YIMBY housing policy, and writing Yelp reviews under the username 'Big Papa.'

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Yelp
- **Organizations:** Yelp Inc., PayPal, X.com, MRL Ventures, Yelp Foundation
- **From:** Arlington, Virginia, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. Computer Engineering (with honors), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MBA (attended one year, did not complete), Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Co-founded Yelp in 2004 and grew it to 308 million reviews and $1.4B annual revenue, Led Yelp through successful NYSE IPO in March 2012, Declined acquisition offers from Google (~$500M) and Microsoft (~$700M)

## Career timeline

- **1977** — Born in Arlington, Virginia
- **1991** — Began investing in stocks at age 14; self-taught Turbo Pascal programming
- **1999** — Graduated from UIUC with B.S. Computer Engineering (with honors)
- **1999** — Brief stint at Excite@Home (4 months)
- **1999** — Joined X.com (later PayPal) as a software engineer
- **2000-2003** — Rose to VP of Engineering at PayPal, managing 43-person team
- **2002** — eBay acquired PayPal; Stoppelman received cash payout
- **2003** — Enrolled in Harvard Business School MBA program
- **2004** — Left HBS after one year; joined Max Levchin's MRL Ventures incubator
- **2004** — Got the flu; couldn't find doctor recommendations online - the spark for Yelp
- **2004** — Co-founded Yelp with Russel Simmons; secured $1M seed from Max Levchin
- **2004** — Yelp launched publicly in October
- **2005** — Pivoted from email recommendations to user-generated review model
- **2005** — Raised $5M from Bessemer Venture Partners
- **2006** — Raised $10M from Benchmark Capital
- **2009** — Declined Google acquisition offer (~$500M) and Microsoft offer (~$700M)
- **2010** — Steve Jobs personally called Stoppelman to discourage Google sale
- **2011** — Testified before US Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust about Google's practices
- **2011** — Founded the Yelp Foundation
- **2012** — Yelp IPO on NYSE at $15/share; closed at $24.58 on first day
- **2012** — Had personally written over 1,000 Yelp reviews as 'Big Papa'
- **2013** — Began accepting $1 annual salary as CEO
- **2013** — Named to Fortune '40 Under 40'
- **2014** — Yelp achieved first-ever profitability
- **2020** — COVID-19: laid off 1,000 employees, furloughed 1,100 more
- **2022** — Announced permanent remote work policy; sold 450,000 sq ft of office space
- **2024** — Yelp filed antitrust lawsuit against Google in federal court
- **2024** — Yelp achieved $1.41B net revenue (6% YoY growth)
- **2025** — Launched Yelp Assistant AI chatbot; project submissions up 50%+ QoQ
- **2025** — Yelp's antitrust case against Google cleared to proceed on all claims

## Achievements

- Co-founded Yelp in 2004 and grew it to 308 million reviews and $1.4B annual revenue
- Led Yelp through successful NYSE IPO in March 2012
- Declined acquisition offers from Google (~$500M) and Microsoft (~$700M)
- Rose from software engineer to VP of Engineering at PayPal
- Part of the PayPal Mafia - the most influential alumni network in Silicon Valley
- Named to Fortune '40 Under 40' in 2013
- Named to Fast Company 'Most Creative People in Business'
- Personally wrote 1,000+ Yelp reviews as 'Big Papa'
- Testified before US Senate on Google's anti-competitive practices in local search
- Led Yelp's shift to permanent remote work in 2022, a pioneer among public companies
- Filed landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2024
- Donated $100,000+ to YIMBY housing causes in San Francisco Bay Area

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Yelp's antitrust lawsuit against Google cleared to proceed on all claims in federal court
- **2025-06** — Launched Yelp Assistant AI chatbot; project submissions up 50%+ quarter-over-quarter
- **2025-01** — Yelp achieved net revenue of $1.41B for 2024 with 6% YoY growth and 10% net income margin
- **2024-08** — Filed antitrust lawsuit against Google in federal court in San Francisco
- **2024-08** — Celebrated DOJ ruling that Google illegally maintained search monopoly

## Links

- Website: https://www.yelp.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremystoppelman
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jeremys
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoppelmanjeremy/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jeremy-stoppelman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-05