From Seeking Alpha, here’s the relevant discussion of print YP and local search from the AT&T earnings call:
Our third major segment is advertising and publishing, with highlights on slide 24. As you know, we have a large print directory business with 1,250 Yellow Page titles published annually. But also as a benefit that came from our BellSouth acquisition, we now have 100% ownership of yellowpages.com, the premier name in Internet directory services. This business is experiencing strong growth, with revenues up 56% in the first quarter versus last year.
Plus, we’re pulling together a variety of local search options that begin to converge with our voice, broadband, and wireless services. Things like send-to-mobile, which lets Internet users send search results from yellowpages.com to their wireless phones as a text message. We also recently launched an optimized mobile browser interface available to subscribers of AT&T Wireless service. Last month, we launched YP411, bringing text message business search to consumer cell phones and PDA devices.
Our advertising and publishing operations produce margins approaching 50% with stable revenues and strong cash flow. They have great opportunities for innovation and integration with our other services. We believe they have a promising future.
AT&T now “owns” the yellow pages brand (including 1-800-Yellow Pages, not discussed above) and has a great opportunity to build unified, multi-platform distribution of that content (DA, wireless, online, TV). Its potential vulnerability resides in not being able to evolve the online user experience quick enough to a fickle and changing marketplace.
