Yell Group
Encyclopedia
Yell Group plc is a multinational
directories company headquartered in Reading
, United Kingdom
. As well as the United Kingdom, it has operations in the United States
, Spain
and some countries in Latin America
. Yell Group has its origins in the Yellow Pages
division of the privatised former British state telecommunications operator BT Group plc.
Yell Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange
and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index
, having been a member of the FTSE 100 Index
prior to March 2008.
- a division of the UK General Post Office, launched the first UK Yellow Pages classified directory in Brighton
, Sussex
. Yellow Pages were rolled out across the UK by 1973, and became the first information provider on Prestel
.
Yellow Pages launched its iconic J. R. Hartley
adverts in 1983, and became a separately identified business within the BT Group after BT was privatised in 1984. The red fronted Business Pages launched in 1985 in Bristol
and South Wales
, and the telephone directory enquiries information service Talking Pages was piloted in Brighton
and Bristol
from 1987, which then became known as 118 24 7 after 2003. The group launched Yell.com, its UK local search engine, in 1996 and acquired YellowBook USA in 1999 for $665 million.
The Group was renamed Yell in 2000 and BT restructured in 2001 and agreed to sell the Yell directory business to private equity firms Apax Partners
and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (today operating in Europe as Lion Capital LLP
) for £2.14 billion/$3.5 billion, making it then the largest non-corporate LBO in European history.
in 2003.
In May 2005 Yell announced the acquisition of U.S. directory publisher TransWestern Publishing (and its holding company TransWestern Holdings L.P. from a consortium of private equity firms (Thomas H. Lee Partners
and CIVC Partners
for $1.575 billion (£829 million). TransWestern operated in 25 states and had core positions in California
and Texas
. The deal went through later in the year, making Yell's U.S. subsidiary Yellowbook the fifth largest directory publisher in the United States at that time. TransWestern had been acquired by CIVC Partners
in 1993 and was used as a vehicle for additional acquisitions of smaller directories publishers in the western US. In 1997, TransWestern completed a leveraged recapitalization
in which Thomas H. Lee Partners
and Providence Equity Partners
acquired a 60% interest in the company, with CIVC retaining a minority interest. In 2001, TransWestern acquired Texas-based WorldPages.com, Inc., a leading print and Internet yellow pages publisher listed on the New York Stock Exchange
for $215 million. At the time, TransWestern was the second largest independent publisher of directories.
In April 2006 Yell agreed to purchase a 59.9% stake in Spanish phone directory firm Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion (TPI) from Telefonica
, and launched a bid for the remaining shares which valued TPI at a total of £
2.3 billion (€
3.3 billion; US$4.1bn). Since then, Yell has bought further capital and in September 2007 reached agreement with the minority shareholders to acquire the remaining 1.28% of what is now named Yell Publicidad. In July 2006, Yell threatened Yellowikis
with legal action, claiming that people will confuse the two organisations. In 2008 Yell Group purchased the Pindar Set business and renamed it Yell Adworks.
In May 2009, Yell UK announced an alliance with Google
to provide search marketing services to small businesses, followed by Yell Publicidad in January 2010. In June 2009, Yell Group announced the appointment of Bob Wigley
as Chairman, following the announcement in May 2009, that existing chairman Bob Scott would step down. In September 2009, Yell's US arm, Yellowbook, acquired Texas and Louisiana assets of ypOne Publishing, the 10th largest independent yellow pages publisher in the US. Yell announced the completion of its refinancing in November 2009, as first announced in June 2009 and updated in September the same year.
directories into a smaller compact size rather than the traditional A4 format.
In May 2010, Yell Group purchased TrustedPlaces, a user-contributed local review site
, and its US arm Yellowbook, announced the launch of a new group buying
website called Weforia.com in August 2010.
Mike Pocock was appointed Yell Group CEO from 1 January 2011, replacing previous CEO John Condron. He was previously Senior Vice President and General Manager
of Linksys
and before that was President
and Chief Executive of Polaroid Corporation
.
Yell Group announced the appointment of Richard Hanscott as CEO for the UK part of the business on 29 June 2011, reporting to Mike Pocock. Hanscott was previously CEO of NEC
Germany and Vice President
Network Solutions NEC Europe.
In July 2011, Yell announced the acquisition of Znode, the privately owned multi-store ecommerce company and strategic alliances on digital services for small businesses with both Microsoft and Bazaarvoice. On 14th July, Yell announced a four year plan to move away from traditional print and online advertising and focus on providing a broader range of digital services for both small businesses and consumers.
In September 2011, Yell announced an alliance with mobile platform company Netbiscuits.
In October 2011, Yell announced the appointments of Scott Moore as Group Chief Digital Officer - previously of MSN
and Yahoo!
and Jenny Ashmore as Group Chief Marketing Officer - previously of Mars, Incorporated
and Procter & Gamble
.
, US
, Spain
, and some countries in Latin America
through printed, online and telephone-based media. It is organised as follows:
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
directories company headquartered in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. As well as the United Kingdom, it has operations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and some countries in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Yell Group has its origins in the 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...
division of the privatised former British state telecommunications operator BT Group plc.
Yell Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index
FTSE SmallCap Index
The FTSE SmallCap Index is an index of small market capitalization companies consisting of the 351st to the 619th largest listed companies on the London Stock Exchange main market...
, having been a member of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
prior to March 2008.
1966 to 2001
In 1966, Post Office TelecommunicationsPost Office Telecommunications
Post Office Telecommunications was set up as a separate department of the UK Post Office, in October 1969. The Post Office Act of that year was passed to provide for greater efficiency in post and telephone services; rather than run a range of services, each organisation would be able to focus on...
- a division of the UK General Post Office, launched the first UK Yellow Pages classified directory in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. Yellow Pages were rolled out across the UK by 1973, and became the first information provider on Prestel
Prestel
Prestel , the brand name for the UK Post Office's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979...
.
Yellow Pages launched its iconic J. R. Hartley
J. R. Hartley
J. R. Hartley is both the name of a fictional character and an author's pseudonym inspired by it.- Fictional author :The fictional character appeared in television advertisements for British commercial telephone directory company Yellow Pages, first shown in 1983...
adverts in 1983, and became a separately identified business within the BT Group after BT was privatised in 1984. The red fronted Business Pages launched in 1985 in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, and the telephone directory enquiries information service Talking Pages was piloted in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
from 1987, which then became known as 118 24 7 after 2003. The group launched Yell.com, its UK local search engine, in 1996 and acquired YellowBook USA in 1999 for $665 million.
The Group was renamed Yell in 2000 and BT restructured in 2001 and agreed to sell the Yell directory business to private equity firms Apax Partners
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a global private equity and venture capital firm, headquartered in London. The company also operates out of eight other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel-Aviv, Madrid, Stockholm, Milan and Munich. The firm, including its various predecessors, have raised...
and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (today operating in Europe as Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP
Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm, primarily focusing on leveraged buyout investments in Europe. The firm specializes on investments in the consumer sector...
) for £2.14 billion/$3.5 billion, making it then the largest non-corporate LBO in European history.
2001 to 2010
Yell bought McLeodUSA, one of the largest independent directory publishers in the US for about $600 million in 2002, and floated on London's FTSEFTSE
FTSE may refer to:* The FTSE Group* Stock market indices published by the FTSE Group, particularly the FTSE 100 Index on the London Stock Exchange* The Fundamental theorem of software engineering...
in 2003.
In May 2005 Yell announced the acquisition of U.S. directory publisher TransWestern Publishing (and its holding company TransWestern Holdings L.P. from a consortium of private equity firms (Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....
and CIVC Partners
CIVC Partners
CIVC Partners, previously known as Continental Illinois Venture Corporation, is a Chicago-based private equity firm that presently has over $1.3 billion of equity capital under management. The firm's predecessor was established in 1970 as a subsidiary of Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust...
for $1.575 billion (£829 million). TransWestern operated in 25 states and had core positions in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The deal went through later in the year, making Yell's U.S. subsidiary Yellowbook the fifth largest directory publisher in the United States at that time. TransWestern had been acquired by CIVC Partners
CIVC Partners
CIVC Partners, previously known as Continental Illinois Venture Corporation, is a Chicago-based private equity firm that presently has over $1.3 billion of equity capital under management. The firm's predecessor was established in 1970 as a subsidiary of Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust...
in 1993 and was used as a vehicle for additional acquisitions of smaller directories publishers in the western US. In 1997, TransWestern completed a leveraged recapitalization
Leveraged recapitalization
In corporate finance, a leveraged recapitalization is a change of the capital structure of a company, a substitution of equity for debt —e.g. by issuing bonds to raise money, and using that money to buy the company's stock or to pay dividends...
in which Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....
and Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
acquired a 60% interest in the company, with CIVC retaining a minority interest. In 2001, TransWestern acquired Texas-based WorldPages.com, Inc., a leading print and Internet yellow pages publisher listed on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
for $215 million. At the time, TransWestern was the second largest independent publisher of directories.
In April 2006 Yell agreed to purchase a 59.9% stake in Spanish phone directory firm Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion (TPI) from Telefonica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
, and launched a bid for the remaining shares which valued TPI at a total of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2.3 billion (€
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
3.3 billion; US$4.1bn). Since then, Yell has bought further capital and in September 2007 reached agreement with the minority shareholders to acquire the remaining 1.28% of what is now named Yell Publicidad. In July 2006, Yell threatened Yellowikis
Yellowikis
Yellowikis is a MediaWiki website collecting basic information about businesses. This information includes basic contact details such as company name, address, websites, and telephone numbers, as well as internal Yellowiki wikilinks to competitors. Yellowikis was launched in January 2005...
with legal action, claiming that people will confuse the two organisations. In 2008 Yell Group purchased the Pindar Set business and renamed it Yell Adworks.
In May 2009, Yell UK announced an alliance with Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
to provide search marketing services to small businesses, followed by Yell Publicidad in January 2010. In June 2009, Yell Group announced the appointment of Bob Wigley
Bob Wigley
Bob Wigley is the former senior vice president and chairman of Merrill Lynch EMEA .He has held a number of management positions at Merrill Lynch, serving from 2003 to 2004 as chairman of EMEA Corporate Banking, global co-head of Telecom and Media Investment Banking in 2002, co-head of U.K...
as Chairman, following the announcement in May 2009, that existing chairman Bob Scott would step down. In September 2009, Yell's US arm, Yellowbook, acquired Texas and Louisiana assets of ypOne Publishing, the 10th largest independent yellow pages publisher in the US. Yell announced the completion of its refinancing in November 2009, as first announced in June 2009 and updated in September the same year.
2010 to present
In February 2010, Yell UK announced the first major redesign in forty years of the traditional Yellow PagesYellow 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...
directories into a smaller compact size rather than the traditional A4 format.
In May 2010, Yell Group purchased TrustedPlaces, a user-contributed local review site
Review site
A review site is a website on which reviews can be posted about people, businesses, products, or services. These sites may use Web 2.0 techniques to gather reviews from site users or may employ professional writers to author reviews on the topic of concern for the site...
, and its US arm Yellowbook, announced the launch of a new group buying
Group buying
Group buying, also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase...
website called Weforia.com in August 2010.
Mike Pocock was appointed Yell Group CEO from 1 January 2011, replacing previous CEO John Condron. He was previously Senior Vice President and General Manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of Linksys
Linksys
Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...
and before that was President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and Chief Executive of Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
.
Yell Group announced the appointment of Richard Hanscott as CEO for the UK part of the business on 29 June 2011, reporting to Mike Pocock. Hanscott was previously CEO of NEC
NEC
, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
Germany and Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
Network Solutions NEC Europe.
In July 2011, Yell announced the acquisition of Znode, the privately owned multi-store ecommerce company and strategic alliances on digital services for small businesses with both Microsoft and Bazaarvoice. On 14th July, Yell announced a four year plan to move away from traditional print and online advertising and focus on providing a broader range of digital services for both small businesses and consumers.
In September 2011, Yell announced an alliance with mobile platform company Netbiscuits.
In October 2011, Yell announced the appointments of Scott Moore as Group Chief Digital Officer - previously of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
and Jenny Ashmore as Group Chief Marketing Officer - previously of Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
and Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
.
Operations
The Company operates in the classified advertising markets in the UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and some countries in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
through printed, online and telephone-based media. It is organised as follows:
- Yell UK
- Yellowbook USA
- Yell Publicidad
- Yell Adworks