Yelp Shares are Tanking and a Kickstarter Project Could Be the Reason A new documentary apparently shows alleged abuses by the customer review service.

By Myles Udland

This story originally appeared on Business Insider

Yelp shares were down as much as 4% in afternoon trade on Thursday, and traders are pointing to this Kickstarter project seeking to fund a documentary showing alleged abuses by the customer review service.

On Wednesday, Prost Production, which is raising money for the project, sent out a press release announcing the project.

Last week, we highlighted an interview with Kaylie Milliken, a documentary filmmaker involved in the project.

News of the release, first reported by The Fly, is putting Yelp shares under pressure on Thursday.

In a statement to Business Insider, a Yelp spokesperson said: "The director has a conflict of interest, as she has a history of trying to mislead consumers on Yelp. There is no merit to the claims they appear to highlight, which have been repeatedly dismissed by courts of law, investigated by government regulators, including the FTC, and disproven by academic study."

As of around 1:30 pm ET on Thursday, the movie had raised about $8,600 of its goal amount of $60,000 for the film.

Year-to-date, Yelp shares are down about 18%, and over the last year, the stock is down almost 50%.

You can watch the trailer for "Billion Dollar Bully" here:

Myles is Business Insider's Markets Editor. He joined BI from theflyonthewall.com, where he was a writer for their breaking news team. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

A Defense Startup With Billions in Contracts Launched a Recruiting Campaign Warning People Not to Work There

Anduril Industries is going viral for its "don't work at Anduril" recruiting campaign.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Starting a Business

The Startup World Glamorizes Young Founders, But These 4 Women Started Businesses After Age 40 — Leading to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars. Here's How.

These women entrepreneurs, now in their 50s, share why growing their businesses at this stage in life is better than ever.

Business News

'We're Not Effective': Starbucks CEO Tells Corporate Employees to 'Own Whether or Not This Place Grows'

After layoffs, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said in an internal meeting that the company's operations had to change.

Business News

This Startup Posted a Job Listing Looking to Hire an AI Agent, Not a Human Software Engineer

AI startup Sensay claims to have published the world's first job posting for code — and not a human AI developer — on LinkedIn.

Business News

Goldman Sachs Asks Some Managers to Move From Major Hubs Like New York City to Emerging Regions Like Dallas — Or Quit

Goldman Sachs is also expected to cut around 3% to 5% of its 46,500-person workforce in the coming months.