AT&T Yellow Pages

AT&T Advertising Solutions is the collective d/b/a name of the advertising operations of AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

Inc. Its best know products consist of directory advertising (yellow pages) and yellow pages on line (yp.com). They also sell a variety of other advertising products which include direct mail, and advertising on mobile devices. It is not a company; rather, it is a structural unit consisting of the directory divisions SBC Communications/AT&T

AT&T

has acquired since 1984. It is responsible for the publication of 1,250 directories, published under the AT&T Real Yellow Pages name. It is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

AT&T Advertising Today

AT&T Real Yellowpages is composed of Business and Residence White Pages, Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...

, a community section, and a coupon section. Directories are distributed annually throughout select areas of the United States. In highly populated areas, AT&T publishes a mini directory with smaller print and advertisements, which is distributed to homes. AT&T (formally SBC, Ameritech, and Bell) boasts itself as the oldest phone book publisher, which led to the Real Yellow Pages campaign. The official name is Now AT&T Advertising Solutions as of November 2008. Today the company delivers leads through Print Yellowpages, Yellowpages.com, and various Search Engine Marketing and even websites.

SBC Yellow Pages

AT&T Advertising Solutions began in when SBC Communications dropped its Bell Operating Company names altogether, using a unified "SBC" brand. As a result, the yellow pages operations were combined into one unit (retaining the separate companies) took on the "SMART Yellow Pages" brand, retained from Pacific Bell Directory. The following directory publishing companies owned by SBC began doing business as "SBC SMART Yellow Pages":

Ameritech Publishing
Ameritech Publishing
Ameritech Publishing, Inc. was formed in 1984 during the Bell System Divestiture. It combined the former directory operations of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Telephone. Ameritech Publishing published telephone directories in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and...

, Inc.
Pacific Bell Directory
Pacific Bell Directory
Pacific Bell Directory Holdings was the advertising/publishing division of the Pacific Telesis Group. PBD Holdings held Pacific Bell Directory under its umbrella, who published directories in both Nevada & California....
SNET Information Services
SNET Information Services
SNET Information Services, Inc. was the directory publishing arm of Southern New England Telecommunications. It is currently owned by AT&T, and publishes telephone directories for Southern New England Telephone customers under the AT&T Yellow Pages name....

, Inc.
Southwestern Bell Advertising, L.P.
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, nicknamed "SWBYP'S" , was formed in 1984 upon the breakup of AT&T. SWBYP'S also referred to the following publishing/advertising companies of Southwestern Bell Corp./SBC Communications:...

, Inc.

Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages headquarters were utilized as central headquarters for all SBC Yellow Pages operations in St. Louis, MO at One Bell Center.

In 2004, SBC sold complete control of its joint venture with R. H. Donnelley, DonTech, to R. H. Donnelley. Telephone directories formerly published by SBC now became known as SBC Yellow Pages Published by R. H. Donnelley, and R. H. Donnelley's Illinois operations for SBC became known as the R. H. Donnelley Publishing & Advertising of Illinois Partnership. SBC merged Southwestern Bell Advertising, L.P. with Pacific Bell Directory's advertising division, creating SBC Advertising, L.P. As a result, "SMART" is eliminated as a nickname for all of the yellow pages operations, becoming simply SBC Yellow Pages.

In 2005, SBC completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp., and renamed itself AT&T Inc. As a result, SBC Yellow Pages was renamed AT&T Yellow Pages, and the Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

edition was renamed "AT&T Yellow Pages Published by R. H. Donnelley". SBC Advertising, L.P. was renamed AT&T Advertising, L.P. AT&T directory publishing companies began doing business as either AT&T Yellow Pages (in reference to being a directory publisher) or AT&T Directory Operations (in reference to being a unit of AT&T).

As of November 20, 2006, AT&T Yellow Pages is the only directory operation of a Baby Bell to not be spun off (with the exception of Illinois

Illinois

AT&T Real Yellow Pages

On December 29, 2006, AT&T added BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corporation, or "BAPCO" to its roster of directory publishers. As a result, in January 2007, all companies who had been doing business as AT&T Yellow Pages started doing business as AT&T Advertising & Publishing, while the AT&T Yellow Pages name was retained.

On February 26, 2007, however, AT&T announced it would adopt BellSouth

BellSouth

BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...

's directory branding, the Real Yellow Pages. All yellow pages directories published by AT&T

AT&T

will now be published under the AT&T Real Yellow Pages.
As of November 2008 AT&T Advertising & Publishing changed their name to AT&T Advertising Solutions. This is because the company is now more than just a Yellowpages company. AT&T Advertising Solutions delivers leads through Print, Yellowpages.com and popular search engines and websites.
The following companies now comprise AT&T Advertising Solutions:

Ameritech Publishing, Inc.
Ameritech Publishing
Ameritech Publishing, Inc. was formed in 1984 during the Bell System Divestiture. It combined the former directory operations of Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Telephone. Ameritech Publishing published telephone directories in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and...
BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corporation
BellSouth Advertising & Publishing
BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corporation, or "BAPCO", publishes telephone directories for AT&T customers served by BellSouth Telecommunications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T....
Pacific Bell Directory
Pacific Bell Directory
Pacific Bell Directory Holdings was the advertising/publishing division of the Pacific Telesis Group. PBD Holdings held Pacific Bell Directory under its umbrella, who published directories in both Nevada & California....
SNET Information Services, Inc.
SNET Information Services
SNET Information Services, Inc. was the directory publishing arm of Southern New England Telecommunications. It is currently owned by AT&T, and publishes telephone directories for Southern New England Telephone customers under the AT&T Yellow Pages name....
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc.
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, nicknamed "SWBYP'S" , was formed in 1984 upon the breakup of AT&T. SWBYP'S also referred to the following publishing/advertising companies of Southwestern Bell Corp./SBC Communications:...

Yellowpages.com

Initially a joint venture, SBC Communications & BellSouth

BellSouth

BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...

previously operated their own electronic yellow pages

Electronic Yellow Pages

Electronic Yellow Pages are online versions of traditional printed business directories produced by telephone companies around the world. Typical functionalities of online yellow pages include the alphabetical listings of businesses and search functionality of the business database by name,...

telephone directory websites, SMARTpages.com (a subsidiary of Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc.

Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages

Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, nicknamed "SWBYP'S" , was formed in 1984 upon the breakup of AT&T. SWBYP'S also referred to the following publishing/advertising companies of Southwestern Bell Corp./SBC Communications:...

) and RealPages.com (a subsidiary of BAPCO

BellSouth Advertising & Publishing

BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corporation, or "BAPCO", publishes telephone directories for AT&T customers served by BellSouth Telecommunications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T....

) . Both sites' operations were merged into Yellowpages.com

YELLOWPAGES.COM

YELLOWPAGES.com is an Internet web site operated by YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC which is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T..-History:Both sites' operations were merged into Yellowpages.com in 2005. As a result of SBC Communications' merger with AT&T, the post merger AT&T wholly owned an additional...

in 2005. As a result of SBC Communications merger with AT&T, the post merger AT&T wholly owned an additional telephone directory website AnyWho.com

AnyWho.com

AnyWho.com is an online telephone directory owned by AT&T. It was founded under ownership by AT&T Corporation, and became a subsidiary of The New AT&T in November 2005. Its listings are currently provided by YELLOWPAGES.COM, a wholly owned company of AT&T that was formerly a BellSouth - AT&T joint...

. AnyWho.com, though owned by AT&T Knowledge Ventures, was never merged into YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC

YELLOWPAGES.COM

due to stake conflicts with BellSouth. The acquisition of BellSouth

BellSouth

BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...

by AT&T

AT&T

on December 29, 2006 led to both companies being wholly owned. AnyWho.com is now integrated with Yellowpages.com.

External links

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