DMS ’09: Donat Rétif Offers Tough Love to the YP Industry

Yesterday at DMS, Truvo CEO Donat Rétif took direct aim at tradition by describing a brave new directory world.

Rétif, whose themes were generally aligned with those of many of the speakers at DMS ’09, made a compelling case that there is no going back to the environment Yellow Pages enjoyed for so many years. He presented this through the lens of Truvo’s current situation, where print revenues are declining at an accelerating rate.

He’s confident that in two years, 50 percent of his top-line revenues will be generated by digital products. According to BIA/Kelsey data, digital revenues average 25 percent of top-line revenues in Europe and about 10 percent in the United States. European publishers like Truvo and Eniro have led this charge over the past few years.

Rétif made it quite clear that while he hopes many of the current Truvo employees can transform and transition in due time, there will likely be turnover among the ranks of his organization. Importantly, he made it clear that it’s absolutely necessary to transform the cost structure of his organization as it goes through this transformation.