Author: Charles Laughlin

Blogger David Galbraith is being credited as the first to discover that Google is beginning to offer blue "Adballoons" on maps, which for now appears limited to hotels in New York City. One of Galbraith's basic conclusions is that this…

BusinessWeek has an interesting take on the benefits of spin-offs, which is apropos given the likelihood that Verizon will go the spin-off route with its Information Services directory publishing unit. A BusinessWeek study conducted by Dealogic found that " ...the…

Clarke Directory Publishers, an established and well-regarded niche independent publisher operating in Southern California, apparently has decided the time is right to cash in. Yellow Book issued a press release today saying it has acquired Clarke for an undisclosed sum.…

The U.S. Yellow Pages industry is set to see its first batch of syndicated usage data in a number of years. Later this month, according to a press release issued today by SRI/Knowledge Networks, 2005 usage data for 45 U.S.…

Telecom Directories (New Zealand) is showing more aggressiveness in business development under its new leadership (GM Dudley Enoka). We recently noted in Local Media Journal that Telecom Directories has acquired a company that publishes a retirement guide for Kiwis over…

Spoke yesterday with Robert Rath at Sensis about a range of issues. One was to learn more about Platefood, a London-based joint venture that is majority owned by Sensis. The other partners are Norway-based Fast Search & Transfer and Schibsted,…

Had a discussion this morning with Marc Tellier at Yellow Pages Group about his company's acquisition of Trader Media Group, a Canadian classifieds publisher. We will cover the whole idea of directories and classifieds in greater detail within the TKR…

Last week Yell Group conducted a detailed investor presentation in which it revealed for the first time online revenues for Yellow Book, its U.S. subsidiary. We will cover the details of the presentation within the TKR program, but here are…

In a transaction unlikely to alter the delicate balance of power in the global Yellow Pages industry, Swedish publisher Eniro announced earlier this week that it has sold its 75 percent stake in Belarus directory publisher JV Eniro Belfakta, for…

Just got around to reading this item on the Motley Fool. It offers a bullish take on Yellow Pages, which contrasts with a lot of recent coverage in the wake of the Verizon IS sale announcement. Much of the coverage…

When a company as large as Verizon decides to shed its directory business, a reliable source of cash for so many years, questions inevitably arise over what such a move says about the future of Yellow Pages. I've been scanning…

This from an article yesterday in a Norwegian newspaper: Cornel Riklin, who has been CEO of the Norwegian directory publisher Findexa for the past 11 months, is leaving his post now that the company is part of Eniro AB, which…

As noted in Greg's post, last night, Verizon Corp. posted an announcement on its Web site that it is "reviewing strategic alternatives for the domestic operations of the company's wholly owned directories publishing business, Verizon Information Services." You can review…

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…

The Canadian Finance Minster issued a ruling yesterday on the taxation of income trusts that has left Yellow Pages Group President and CEO Marc Tellier breathing a sigh of relief. The government decided to reduce the tax on dividend income,…