Google Inc. has reportedly lost its acquisition bid for the social networking service Yelp, as the latter has backed off from the negotiations. Yelp had been slated for acquisition by Google for $500 million and the service is known to have a huge collection of local businesses listings. As per sources close to the talks, Yelp was even approached by a yet unnamed firm that put on a bid of $750 million, much higher than that of Google.

Even with the higher offer of $750 million, Yelp declined the offer as it was banking heavily upon the merger with Google that would have not only provided the firm with $500 million, but would have also also taken Yelp to even greater heights as one of the premier services providing local business listings. However, there has been a great deal of confusion, as to who went off the table first, Google or Yelp.

Some suggest that Google was the one who took the initiative and stepped off the negotiation platform as the company executives felt that, the Yelp negotiators had been hiding information and the deal details were being constantly leaked out even as the meetings were behind closed doors.

Via New York Times.