This week Canada’s Yellow Pages Group acquired directory-related assets from Volt Information Sciences for US$178 million. Volt has been a technology partner to YPG for seven years. It offers technology for database management and customer relationship management, and it also owns the independent directory publisher DataNational.
In announcing the acquisition, YPG put the emphasis on the technology aspect of …

At Princeton’s Fourth of July fireworks last night, I got into a discussion with a friend who is concerned about his son who works as a journalist for a small N.J. newspaper. I referred him to a “tell it like it is” story in Search Engine Watch by Kevin Heisler under the foreboding headline “Newspapers Bleed Red …

Idearc Media has made the decision to discontinue 28 competitive directory titles in Florida, Tennessee and Texas, and has eliminated 200 positions as a result. The company will also close nine sales offices, each associated with the independent directory titles being discontinued.
The company remains in the business of publishing independent directory titles and continues to …

Some details have been released about Praized Media’s Local Conversations Organizer. Praized is a Canadian start-up launched by YPG vets Harry Wakefield and Sebastien Provencher, and Sylvain Carle, a longtime industry vet. Its tagline is “Trust Your Tribes.”
In a teaser announcement released today, Praized said its platform will be used by Yellow Pages Group in Canada …

There has not been all that much fresh coverage of the rumor, reported earlier this week, that Microsoft may acquire Yell Group, the U.K.-based international publisher with operations in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and Latin America. We have not been able to pick up much to support the rumor, though circumstances might suggest …

Reuters is reporting a rumor that Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer has set his sights on Yell Group as his next acquisition target, which has led to a bump in Yell’s share price.
We don’t know if this is true. It is, after all, being reported as a “rumor.” However, this isn’t the most implausible rumor we’ve heard. …

Yellowbook has launched a new microsite to encourage consumers to download and share spots from its new ad campaign. The site also links to Yellowbook’s YouTube channel.
TKG recently posted on the new Yellowbook campaign and brand makeover. We see it as an upgrade of the previous David Carradine campaign, which the publisher contends was quite …

At this writing, Idearc Media’s stock was trading higher (up about 28 percent at noon Eastern) after an earnings announcement that shows the company has managed its costs well enough to grow EBITDA, while its revenues continued to slide.
Here are a few highlights from today’s earnings call (we will have a more detailed write-up for …

Yellowbook has unveiled a new television ad campaign, replacing the kinda cheesy Kung Fu ads (sorry, David Carradine, you did what you could) with a much slicker campaign that focuses on promoting use of Yellowbook’s online directory (which is also sporting a new look and feel, modeled closely after its sister IYP Yell.com).

Yellowbook (a unit of …

In an executive interview today with the “Father of IYP,” Pat Marshall, Yellow Book’s chief new media officer talked about his re-entrance to the IYP space and what Yellow Book is looking for new business partners.
In all fairness, Marshall, who was previously head of Idearc’s (the former Verizon) Superpages.com, said he didn’t want to return …

The U.S. independent publisher White Directory has added two new members to its sales leadership team. Kevin Pavelski, vice president of digital expansion, and Pat Balles, vice president of global markets. From the press release:
 

“Pavelski comes to White Directory from Wisconsin, where he worked with AT&T for the past 13 years. He brings with him …

Yellow Book has been gradually closing the gap with its U.S. IYP rivals, which testifies to the publishers’ increasing emphasis on its online business as a driver of future growth. According to data recently put out by comScore, Yellowbook.com was the fastest growing U.S. Internet site in the month of March.
I spoke earlier today with Yellow Book’s …

Lawrence, Massachusetts-based Yellow Pages publisher LocalTel has partnered with Google’s AdWords program to sell keywords on Google and Google Maps, and for ads to appear on partner sites within Google’s AdSense network. According to the press release, “ Through a new strategic relationship with Google, LocalTel has become a Google Adwords authorized re-seller allowing businesses …

U.S. independent publisher Yellow Book announced a distribution and co-branding deal with Cox Communications in which Yellow Book directories in key Cox markets will carry Cox branding and information on Cox products and services in the front of book. The deal currently involves Yellow Book directories in Providence, R.I., Pensacola, Fla., and Oklahoma City, Okla., but may …

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 company’s share price over the past year, and in particular last week, when the price dropped …

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 tools, such as “predictive” drop-down menus to help consumers refine their search more seamlessly. For example, …

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, visits to Yellowbook.com jumped 137 percent to 10.4 million visitors, compared with about 4.4 million …

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 coutries outside the U.S., the trend is the same. The issue becomes whether the convenience …

Jonathan Weber started his career in traditional media as a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times, but the new media bug got hold of him. He was the cofounder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard, which more than any other publication reflected the rise and fall of the dot-com boom. In …

Yellow Book announced a partnership with DistribuTech to extend its directory distribution to retail outlets. The deal is exclusive in areas where both Yellow Book and DistribuTech operate.
According to the announcement, “DistribuTech places free informational publications in more than 18,000 stores in 41 states, plus the District of Columbia, which includes grocery stores, pharmacies, mass merchandisers …