A couple of interesting pieces of Yelp news have surfaced in that the company is lobbying for patent reform and copyright laws, and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman has sold nearly 15,000 shares of the company.
As first reported by The Hill, the company hired former House staffer Laurent Crenshaw as its first lobbyist a couple months ago. He is a former aide to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.
Crenshaw was quoted as saying at the time, “I’m extremely excited to be joining this fast-growing company and plan to continue working on issues I care about and love including Internet freedom, intellectual property, technology and telecommunications, along with a host of others.”
This week, The Hill reported on the company’s first lobbying campaigns on the aforementioned issues, pointing to Yelp’s official lobbying disclosure form, where it says Crenshaw was lobbying on the Innovation Act, and is lobbying on the 998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He will also lobby on the “anti-SLAPP” bill,” which would prevent strategic lawsuits against public participation.
Stoppelman’s stock sale was revealed in an SEC filing (via Ticker Report). He sold 14,705 shares of common stock on December 30th at $64.83 per share, and got $953,322 from the sale.
Image: Jeremy Stoppelman (Twitter)