Public (NYSE: YEXT); lost unicorn status in 2025–26
The rise & fall
7 moments · 2006–2025
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2006
🌱
2006
Founded by Howard Lerman and friends
Starts out in ads before finding its calling: keeping business listings accurate across search engines, maps and voice assistants.
Wikipedia
Apr 2017
🦄
Apr 2017
IPO makes it a unicorn$1.5B
Lists on the NYSE at ~$1.5B, selling the dream of managing a business's entire digital presence.
Macrotrends
Aug 2018
📈
Aug 2018
The peak: $27.19 a share$2.38B
An August 2018 all-time high puts the market cap near $2.4B. The stock never gets back there.
Macrotrends
2019–24
2019–24
A very long drift
Growth decelerates as listings management matures and AI-driven search reshapes the landscape; the stock slides for years rather than crashing.
Macrotrends
2022
2022
The founder-CEO steps down
Howard Lerman hands over the CEO seat while the drift continues.
Wikipedia
2022–25
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–25
Glassdoor reviews from the long slide described small layoff rounds every few months, handled quietly and badged as restructurings — at times shortly after leadership had signaled none were planned — and near-wholesale turnover in the senior ranks after the founder-CEO's exit.
2025
💔
2025
Slips out of the club
The market cap finally breaks below $1B and keeps sliding toward ~$0.4B.
Macrotrends
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Yext sells software that helps businesses manage their digital presence — keeping information accurate across search engines, maps and voice assistants. It went public in 2017 and peaked around $2.4B in 2018, then growth steadily decelerated as listings management matured and AI-driven search reshaped the landscape; the stock drifted lower for years before falling below $1B in 2025-26, ending near $0.4B.
Source: Macrotrends / companiesmarketcap / stockanalysis (April 2017 IPO ~$1.5B, ATH $27.19 Aug 2018 ~$2.38B market cap; ~$1.0B Oct 2025 -> ~$0.4B June 2026)
