Sensis Seen as Telstra Growth Engine
An interesting story just appeared on Bloomberg that reports Australian publisher Sensis, a unit of telecom Telstra, will be spared from a massive job-cutting program because it represents a critical component of Telstra’s growth plans. Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo has announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs over the next five years. Sensis is committing to double its revenues by 2010, a tall order for any directory company. However, print Yellow Pages does not appear to be central to these growth objectives. Rather, the company will rely on Internet advertising and initiatives like Platefood, a London-based enterprise that will license Sensis’ online search and directory platform to other European and Asian publishers. You can read the story here.
In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo, said that he wants Sensis to take on some of the largest internet companies in the world — like Google and eBay.
Today, the company announced the launch of their new pay per call service powered by eStara. With a move like this, Sensis is showing that they are at the forefront of search innovation and perhaps willing to playball with the likes of Google.