Yext

In 2006, Howard Lerman and Brian Distelburger started a new lead generation service in a one-room office at Columbus Circle in New York; the company was incorporated in Delaware the same year and originally operated as an advertising services company. Its IPO prospectus names Lerman, Distelburger and Brent Metz as its three co-founders.⁠[1][2][2][2]

In 2009, the service, by then named Yext, shifted to a pay-per-call model.⁠[1]

In 2011, Yext launched Listings, its business-information management feature, followed by Pages in 2014 and Reviews in 2016. Michael Walrath has chaired the company’s board of directors since that year.⁠[2][1]

In 2012, Yext sold its advertising business (the pay-per-call portion) to IAC/InterActiveCorp to focus on “digital knowledge” software, concentrating on Listings, and moved its headquarters into Met Life Tower, a historic New York building.⁠[2][1]

On April 12, 2017, the registration statement for Yext’s initial public offering became effective; the company sold common stock at $11 per share and its shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol YEXT. Including the underwriters’ over-allotment option, exercised in full, the company issued 12,075,000 shares; the offering closed on April 19, raising $123.5 million net of underwriting discounts and commissions.⁠[3][2][2][3][3]

In 2019, Yext rebranded and launched its Search product, expanding its addressable market.⁠[1]

In 2020, Yext, by then with more than 1,200 employees, moved from its longtime headquarters to a new headquarters in New York City, the Yext Building.⁠[1]

On March 7, 2022, co-founder Howard Lerman notified the board that he would step down as chief executive officer and leave the board on March 25, becoming an advisor to the company for one year; the board appointed chairman Michael Walrath to succeed him as chief executive officer on the same date. Under his employment letter, Walrath receives no cash compensation and was instead granted 2,000,000 performance-based restricted stock units.⁠[4][4][4][4][4]

On March 8, 2023, co-founder Brian Distelburger resigned as an employee of the company while remaining a director.⁠[5]

On June 10, 2024, Yext signed a merger agreement with Hearsay Social, a digital client engagement platform for financial services, and completed the acquisition on August 1, making Hearsay a wholly owned subsidiary. Total purchase consideration was $180.4 million, including $39.5 million of contingent consideration; under an earnout arrangement, Yext may pay the former Hearsay equity holders up to $75 million if annual recurring revenue milestones are met over a two-year period ending in September 2026.⁠[6][6][7][6][7]

On February 7, 2025, Yext acquired KabanaSoft, LLC, doing business as Places Scout, for $20.3 million in cash to strengthen its competitive intelligence, benchmarking and AI-powered insights; it also agreed to grant approximately $10 million of incentive equity to certain key Places Scout employees.⁠[7][7][7]

On August 18, 2025, Yext announced that chief executive officer and chairman Michael Walrath had submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares he did not already own for $9.00 per share in cash; the board formed a special committee of independent directors, advised by independent legal and financial advisers, to evaluate the proposal and other strategic alternatives.⁠[7][7][8]

On February 2, 2026, Walrath withdrew the $9.00-per-share proposal, saying he would not be able to obtain the necessary financing at that price, and said he would continue as chief executive officer; the take-private transaction therefore did not proceed. The same day, the company announced that the special committee had approved a “Dutch auction” self-tender offer for $150 million of its common stock, which might be funded with debt.⁠[8][8][8][8][8]

On February 10, 2026, Yext commenced a tender offer to repurchase up to $180 million of common stock at $5.75 to $6.50 per share; on March 4 it lowered the cap to $140 million and extended the expiration to March 18. On March 20, after the offer expired, the company announced that it had accepted 24,347,826 shares at $5.75 per share, about $140 million excluding fees, representing approximately 19.7% of shares outstanding as of March 19; because more shares were tendered than the cap, acceptances were prorated at approximately 38.5%.⁠[7][7][9][9][9]

In its results for the second quarter of fiscal 2027 (ended July 31, 2026), published on September 1, 2026, Yext said it had completed the acquisition of GoShine, extending its platform to brand-level visibility optimization for AI search; revenue for the quarter was $111.1 million.⁠[10][10][10]

On October 11, 2026, Yext’s board granted chief executive officer Walrath an option to purchase 11,000,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $7.00 with a ten-year term; the option is divided into 14 tranches that become exercisable only if the stock reaches each tranche’s target price (from $21.00 for the first to $88.08 for the highest), and it must be approved by stockholders within 12 months of the grant or be forfeited in its entirety. The company said the option is intended to be his sole new equity compensation for the following ten years.⁠[11][11][11][11][11][11][11][11][11]

Yext’s cloud platform lets businesses manage their business information, landing-page content and consumer reviews from a single login so that they can give accurate answers to consumer questions across search and applications; the platform connects to a Publisher Network of more than 200 maps, apps, search engines, intelligent GPS systems, digital assistants, vertical directories and social networks, through which customers can update their information in one place; as of 2026, the company positions itself as an enterprise “agentic marketing platform” focused on helping brands get discovered in AI and traditional search.⁠[7][7][10][10]

Yext’s fiscal year ends on January 31. In fiscal 2026, ended January 31, 2026, revenue was $446.6 million, up 6% from the prior year, with the increase driven entirely by the inclusion of Hearsay’s revenue; net income was $37.9 million, compared with a net loss of $27.9 million the year before. As of January 31, 2026, the company had approximately 1,120 full-time employees, about 27% of them at its New York headquarters at 61 Ninth Avenue. As of October 2026, its common stock still trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol YEXT.⁠[7][7][7][7][7][11]

Yext: Official website: https://www.yext.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

X: Public account: https://x.com/yext (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yext (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBGyMZqAKM1FDAAEOR3s8Ag (opens in a new window)⁠[12][12]