The Yellow Pages Do the Walking (T)
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced this morning that it had sold its advertising solutions and interactive divisions to an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management LLC for $750 million in cash, a $200 million note, and a 47% stake in a…
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
YP Holdings will receive 1,200 Yellow Pages print directory titles, the YP.com website, the YP local ad network, and the YPmobile app. The new company has also agreed to “honor existing union contracts.”
The proliferation of yellow pages directories had put AT&T in a market where it couldn’t really be a leader, so getting rid of the division is a smart thing to do. Cerberus is likely to hive off the print directories to competitors — after all, AT&T took a $2.9 billion writedown on the business last year. That’s not the sign of a healthy business and Cerberus isn’t likely to invest more in a dying enterprise.
Paul Ausick
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
