Idearc Media announced today that Kathy Harless has been replaced as CEO of the directory publisher by board chairman John Mueller, a former CEO of Cincinnati Bell Yellow Pages and Valor Communications. Harless' departure follows a substantial decline in the…
Andrew Day, CEO of European directory publisher Truvo (formerly World Directories), took the stage with Charles Laughlin yesterday at TKG's one-day local search summit in London. His message can be summed up in one sound byte that was repeated a…
Not so many years ago, major Yellow Pages publishers in developed countries reported revenue and earnings growth (or occasionally declines) that were generally very consistent. The advent of serious competition in several markets has had somewhat of an impact on…
On the Yellow Pages Group (Canada) fourth-quarter earnings call today, CEO Marc Tellier was asked whether YPG had any interest in making acquisitions in the United States. The question was prompted by the steep sell-offs last week of Idearc Media, R.H.…
Lately there has been a noticeable rise in the amount of attention and investment paid to online video sites that specialize in generating "how-to" videos. These include: ExpertVillage (acquired by Demand Media last June) VideoJug (received $30M last May) HowCast…
The sell-off of directory stocks that reached a crescendo yesterday is continuing today, with Idearc, R.H. Donnelley and Yell being hit the hardest. Each of the three has been downgraded by leading banks and has lost a substantial amount of its value.…
Thursday was a very rough day for publicly traded directory companies. With Idearc and Yell announcing results that show more weakness in print directories, the two companies' shares moved sharply downward. As of this writing Thursday afternoon, Idearc shares had lost…
Yellow Book USA announced a redesigned Yellowbook.com today that features a new clean and simple user interface and a map-based search featuring Microsoft's Virtual Earth. In addition to the enhanced mapping feature, the new site also includes some new navigation…
I'm a happy subscriber to AT&T's U-verse IPTV service, and I noticed in the monthly program guide that AT&T's Yellowpages.com is now available on Channel 97. So I "rented" it ... a process that required a one-time-only download of graphics,…
Yellowbook.com is gaining ground in the U.S. IYP arena. Online measurement firm comScore Networks issued a "year in review" press release this week in which it noted that Yellowbook.com was one of the top-gaining properties of 2007. In December 2007,…
Quick, what industry gets the highest customer service quality ratings from U.S. adult consumers, according to an August 2007 Harris Interactive poll? No. 1 is supermarkets with 92 percent giving them a good rating, No. 2 is online search engines (84…
In a significant development, AT&T’s Yellowpages.com is replacing Yahoo! Local Search for AT&T’s broadband and Internet customers. It is a move that will greatly enhance Yellowpages.com’s position in the space. The company recently told analysts it expects to attract 2 billion…
Yellow Pages Group Canada has signed an agreement with Copernic, owners of Mamma.com, to supply local Canadian advertiser listings to the mamma.com search engine. According to the press release from Copernic, "The agreement means local search queries will be served…
A new study in the United Kingdom, commissioned by welovelocal.com, a U.K.-based online local site competing against directory publishers, has found that 35 percent of British consumers no longer want to receive print directories, and choose the Internet to look…
Microsoft Canada Co. and Yellow Pages Group Canada announced that Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping software is now available on YellowPages.ca. The software licensing deal allows YPG to provide a more robust map experience for users. It will also enable the…
OK, so I’m on a Web 2.0 kick. I guess I’ve made it my New Year’s resolution to get more publishers and local search companies thinking about the broader meaning and business opportunities Web 2.0 presents beyond consumer reviews and…
A year ago, my colleagues Neal Polachek and Charles Laughlin predicted that Internet Yellow Pages as a percentage of total U.S. Yellow Pages revenues would climb from about 6 percent in 2006 to 24 percent in 2011. While the base is higher in most…
Kudzu, the service-oriented rating and review directory from Cox Search, has been under the radar for a while, while similar services (i.e., Judy’s Book, Insider Pages and Backfence) have run into some turbulence. But a recent visit with GM Tom…
The battle for IYP (and local search) supremacy hinges on a number of factors. One of which is likely to be the acquisitions of lateral properties (i.e., RHD and Business.com). So, we note with interest that former AOL chief Jon…
BooRah, the Bay Area restaurant review site, has raised some seed funding from Storm Ventures and other investors (amount undisclosed) and plans to use the money to grow beyond its roots as a tech vendor for alternative newsweeklies. The…
