We’ve been wondering what direction Qype would take recently after rumours that it was in potential acquisition talks with various parties, one of which may have been Nokia, although nothing was ever confirmed. What we do know is that there has been an internal “debate” about whether to enter into a strategic partnership (usually code for acquisition) or whether to double down on becoming the go-to local reviews site in Europe. And so far it’s held it’s own against Yelp on this side of the pond.
But today it’s become clear that this “exit or grow” debate had reached an impasse. We knew from sources that CEO Stephen Taylor, a former Yahoo! Europe head, favoured a partnership/acquisition. But Founder and Chairman Stephan Uhrenbacher, who remains Qype’s largest private shareholder, favoured the go for growth / home-run approach. Whatever the case, last Friday Taylor departed.