AT&T has sold a 53 percent stake in its Yellow Pages business to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital for $950 million. This works out to a valuation of $1.8 billion. The deal involves both the Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive operations.

Significantly, AT&T has elected to hang onto 47 percent of the business. AT&T may be reasoning that a private equity firm would be more willing and able to make the substantial changes to the business needed to unlock value. If it works, AT&T will see the value of its sizable remaining stake grow, perhaps substantially.

AT&T Advertising Solutions produced EBITDA of $1.03 billion in 2011 (2011 revenues were $3.3 billion), so the deal works out to about a 1.75X EBITDA multiple. In historic terms, that is awfully, awfully low, but it reflects how investors view the directory business today. The intensely negative view of the legacy Yellow Pages business (somewhat overdone in our view, given the residual value in the print product) will lead some companies to consider shutting down their print operations just so they can be valued as an online rather than a legacy business. This is why so many companies are telling investors that within a few years, print will not account for more than a quarter of revenues.

We think this deal is a steal for Cerberus. As we wrote when reports of this deal first surfaced, had AT&T sold its directory business at peak multiples back in 2007, the business could easily have fetched more than $10 billion. It’s been a tough road for directories since then, but the AT&T business is better than this fire sale price suggests. The company has a huge sales force, strong brands and deep executive talent, and it still produces $1 billion in EBITDA. If Cerberus is wise, it will retain AT&T’s top talent, people like Mike Fordyce, David Krantz and many others.

The AT&T deal is likely to have repercussions around the global industry, as investors in other directory companies will be dismayed that the largest company in the industry has just sold at such a low multiple. This could compel debtholders at other publishers (Dex One, SuperMedia) to find a deal while they think they still can. Another perhaps more likely scenario is that investors will sit tight and see how this deal plays out. As long as the businesses are generating cash and servicing their debt, why do a fire sale? Longer term, we think consolidation is inevitable among the major U.S. directory companies.

The only reliable prediction is that Cerberus will not stand pat but will take some dramatic action with AT&T, either to strip out costs or reposition the business (probably some combination of both). Will it combine the Ad Solutions and Interactive businesses? What about a roll-up scenario? Will it rationalize its print footprint, culling under-performing markets? These and other options are likely on the table.

Home and trade lead sites often take a simple, category-by-category directory approach, but visual contractor rankings might make more sense, argues Jiyan Wei, cofounder of BuildZoom. Wei says his team canvassed home and trade sites such as Angie’s List, ServiceMagic, Redbeacon, Thumbtack and others and noted that many don’t do much more than provide basic listing data and reviews.

Even if the home and trade sites are generating good traffic, they aren’t always producing a lot of leads, says Wei. That’s because consumers don’t have much to go on. Enter BuildZoom, which has developed a comprehensive ranking system. The company’s Big Data approach is based on assorted information from state licensing boards and Better Business Bureaus; crowd sourcing via social media sites; insurance and bonding status; and self-provided information.

BuildZoom’s “Pro Ranking” provides consumers with information on up to 25 candidates per job. For $100 a month, the site will provide consultative services to drive up ranking and search results, including access to copywriters, photo placement, etc. “The core asset is consumer value,” notes Wei. Sites that charge commissions to contractors could have an element of built-in bias. The site also earns revenue from sponsored placement.

The site, founded in August 2010, is angel-funded and currently receives more than 250,000 unique visitors a month. More than 8,000 businesses have registered, and it has 120 paying customers. A handful of salespeople have been assigned in Arizona and Southern California, but they are not limited geographically.

“We already have lots of East Coast contractors related to remodeling projects in New Jersey, Georgia and North Carolina,” says Wei. He adds that home and trade is seen as just the first of many possible verticals for the company.

Google’s GoMo effort just took a step forward by offering free do-it-yourself mobile website creation. GoMo, for those unfamiliar, is the search giant’s program to evangelize the benefits of websites that are optimized for mobile devices.

The goal is cleaner sites, “thumb friendliness” and prominent calls to action conducive to mobility (think click-to-call, or directions). Google’s goal is also to expand the friendliness and use of the mobile Web — where search is central — compared with native apps.

The new offer is care of our friends at DudaMobile, who were already partners in the GoMo program. In addition to the goal of getting things going on the mobile Web, this could drive ongoing Duda subscriptions, as the free period ends after a year.

The GoMo program essentially makes Duda’s “Premium” package free for that year, including creation and hosting ($108 value). Its tiers of service otherwise look like this (click to expand):

BIA/Kelsey Competetive Intelligence Lead Celine Matthiessen went as far as to create a free mobile version of her website. She claims it took about 15 minutes and she’s now set up with a nice looking mobile site.

This ease of use is one of Duda’s claims to fame. Content is pulled from a desktop site so it’s populated quickly and subsequent updates don’t have to be made in two places. And this is very much geared toward individuals and SMBs. Google writes

Please note that DudaMobile’s technology is best for converting simple sites. If your site uses a lot of Flash content, framesets or e-commerce, we suggest that you Go Mobile by talking to your agency or working with one of the developers here.

Here are some of the screen shots Celine sent me, which show the setup process, including picking a template, calls to action and check-out.

There’s been lots of talk over the past 24 hours about Google’s new “Project Glass,” and yes it’s pretty cool. For those unfamiliar, this is Google’s project to develop eyewear that overlays media and search information (think directions or local venue discovery).

This falls under augmented reality, as it overlays translucent layers of data on the world around you. Except instead of having to hold up a small smartphone screen, it’s a more seamless experience in that it’s built right into eyewear and happens “before your eyes.”

This brings up lots of interesting implications (not to mention some questions and doubts explored below), but the best way to understand is to watch Google’s video mockup:

The challenge, like erstwhile attempts at augmented reality, is availability of all that geocoded data. Augmented reality is only as good as the content that it can bring up — and that relies on a whole lot of data. The other potential barrier, likely more apparent, is fashion.

Google is entering unfamiliar territory with wearable technology, which of course overlaps with the fickle world of fashion. No matter how cool the use case is, it could fly or die based on initial success of how it looks or plays out on the streets of NYC (note the setting of the demo video).

But it could benefit from Moore’s law in being shrunk down over time to attach to users’ existing eyewear. In the meantime, aspects of what Google is showing is one answer to Local Corp.’s Peter Hutto’s good question at ILM East last week: “Where is augmented reality going?”

BIA/Kelsey’s Matt Booth joked that we’ll soon see YouTube clips showing users transfixed to their smartphone AR interfaces walking off piers or falling into fountains. That’s a longstanding joke around here, but it has some truth.

Along those lines, a clever interweb jokester made a video in response to Project Glass. Enjoy.

Manta announced today that it received a $44 million minority equity investment from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners. The exact proportion of the holding sold to the firm is undisclosed, but its minority stake puts the valuation of Manta at a minimum of $90 million. Jon Kossow and David Su of Norwest Venture Partners will join Manta’s board of directors.

More than 89 million SMBs worldwide use the community, according to Manta, to improve their online presence. Recently, we reported on the new addition of social networking tools to its core SEO-focused directory service. The added functionality is designed to enhance SMBs’ digital referral networks. Manta may also be enhancing its functionality to fend off competition from companies like Angie’s List, Yelp and MerchantCircle. Both companies connect consumers to SMBs.

Founded in 2005, Manta has been compared to the professional networking site Linkedin. Both sites allow users to write a recommendation for a company and let employees connect with their company. However, Manta has found a niche among SMBs that may not have a strong, online or social media presence. This funding round gives Manta more legroom to make further enhancements to its online community moving forward.

Localeze, a provider of business listings, announced a partnership today with Locationary, a local data management company, to simplify the exchange of local business listings. Localeze will use Locationary’s “Saturn” cloud-based data management and exchange platform to streamline the sharing of its customer data in real time. Localeze President Jeff Beard says it can now offer its customers “a solution that reconciles local business listing identities and help them create a mash-up of the content they are most interested in.”

Locationary also provides data exchange services to search platforms and Beard says Localeze marketplace data can benefit them. The penetration of mobile phones and tablets is changing the landscape of local search. In February, we reported on the study 15miles and Localeze released on local search usage. The availability and speed of digital devices combined with multiple data access points for local business information will continue to be a challenge for marketers looking to implement a strategic and effective local targeting campaign.

Neustar, the company that acquired Localeze last year, was in previous talks with Locationary about its platform. “Localeze was a very natural, synergistic place for the partnership,” Beard said. In addition, Beard left the possibility open for future expansion with the new partnership to include deeper product features and functionality.

ILM East 2012 took place last week in Boston and is now one for the history books. It was definitely a fun show that really showcased the fast moving local innovations that BIA/Kelsey focuses on.

There are many learnings we can focus on as takeaways, but in the interest of good reading, how about a top 10 list?

1- The new currencies are time, attention and clickstreams. Payments can be in pixels, Facebook mentions or points and rewards (Ted Leonsis, vice chair, Groupon).

2- Email is for e-commerce push; phones are for texting (Ted Leonsis, vice chair, Groupon).

3- Local is all about scale. And the only way to achieve scale in local is by aggregation (Jay Herratti, outgoing CEO, CityGrid Media).

4- Creating a closed loop is the path to a seamless user experience. American Express is … the acquirer, the issuer and the network (Leslie Berland, SVP, American Express).

5- Daily deals are fun, but Big Data that combines different databases is critical for targeting users and winning loyalty (various).

6- Focus on engagement, not new customer acquisition. Loyal customers are worth 24 times more than new customers (Charlie Kim, CEO, NextJump).

7- Email fatigue is probably out there, but social media complements email, rather than kills it. They are both forms of permission marketing (Mark Schmulen, GM, Constant Contact).

8- Video is a great local medium, but offers limited inventory opportunities, and really can’t compete as a standalone with a major metro newspaper for advertising (Lisa DeSisto, VP, advertising, The Boston Globe).

9- National brands can’t go local without a platform. Otherwise, you can’t get engagement and you’ll see high churn (Pete Gombert, founder and CEO, Ballihoo).

10- You can’t herd 6,000 cats and come up with a digital strategy (Adam Epstein, president, Ad Marketplace).

The staff of Italy’s leading directory publisher, Seat Pagine Gialle, is in a state of shock following the sudden death last week of its popular CEO, who is credited with saving the company from collapse.

Alberto Cappellini died March 25 from an apparent heart attack, soon after completing a financial restructuring that may have saved the company.

The company has posted a message on its website headlined “Ciao Alberto” that read, in part:

“You have left us a vision, a great mission and, above all, an example of dedication that we will always carry with us and that will be an immense help in achieving the goals we have set together with you — no ifs, ands or buts.

“It is impossible to convey the void you have left behind, but also the gratitude we feel for what you have done for all of us. The best tribute we can give you and those you love is our daily commitment to continue your mission and your work.”

Cappellini, 52, joined Seat as CEO in April 2009, replacing Luca Majocchi, who left the company in February. Cappellini arrived at Seat following a long career with paper goods maker Kimberly-Clark.

Since taking over, Cappellini has focused on developing a cohesive strategy and fixing the company’s serious balance sheet problems. At the end of 2011, Seat was carrying more than 2.7 billion euros in net debt, a ratio of 5.6 times EBITDA (based on 2010 full-year EBITDA). In March, the company gained the consent of its lenders for a restructuring package that would convert some bondholder debt to equity.

Last year, investors fled the company, fearing it would crumble under the weight of its debt. At the beginning of 2009, Seat’s shares were trading at 11.62 euros. At the end of 2011, the stock had fallen to 0.2 euros, near oblivion. Last week, shares closed at 0.5 euros. While the share price plummeted under Cappellini, he is widely credited with putting Seat on a more sustainable course and negotiating a difficult restructuring that will ease the debt burden and ensure its survival, at least in the near to mid term.

Seat has not yet reported its 2011 full-year results. Through September 2011, the company saw its group revenues decline by 10.5 percent to 695.6 million euros.