Yellow cuts 20% of staff
Yellow Pages Group said today it will lay off 125 people, or around 20% of its staff.
Most of the cuts are from the company's sales team.
CEO Scott Pomeroy said the company was focussing more on online products and "will require less people in some areas."
The rationale echoes that recently offered by NZ Post's Auckland directory service Localist, which recently reduced the size of its management team and ased 28 sales staff to reapply for 16 roles.
Localist said it had moved beyond its start up phase, and had a new emphasis on digital products that required fewer sales staff.
In the Auckland market, competition between the two companies has been fierce as both have released suburb-specific websites and directories amid the lingering recession.
Yellow has yet to publicly file accounts for its 2011 financial year, but claims to be profitable following its $1.6 billion write-down in 2010 amid a deal that saw lending banks take control of the company, and its board.
The company recently became an authorised Google Ad Words reseller.
"Google owns the consumer," Mr Pomeroy told NBR - essaying the strength of Yellow's new partnership, and yet another issue facing it, and Localist.
Back to home
Back to top
Print
Latest
NBR SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Sign up for NBR subscriber content or email alerts
Comments and questions25
make sure you hang on to those printed copies of yellow pages.
there's already a 2nd hand bookshop on the north shore selling the 2005 version at 10 bucks a copy!
Where are all the complaints about private equity funds losing money?
Why are there only complaints when they make money?
Sounds like the same mistake they made in '07 - deplete the sales team while increasing the sychophants at managerial level.
It's always easy to soar like an eagle when you're....
Is it just me or does Scott Pomeroy look like a 1980s porn star?
Can see your point. All that's required is an open-neck shirt and wearing a heavy gold chain necklace and he could pass himself off as a John Holmes.
You could be on to something - the photo is certainly from the 80's.
Pomeroy has a beautiful mustache.
NZ Post has blown $20m of taxpayers money on Localist, which will never generate a commercial return!
Time to make an Otago RU decision and shut it down before more taxpayers money is wasted.
Why do you think it won't generate a return?
No they set up an online community directory, while maintaining a printed printed directory to stay in contact with and foster a relationship with those who are not early adopters, i.e. those who do not use online search.
Idiots? I think you are talking about Yellow.
Ah ...let's see - because it actually started up a print based directory this century! idiots
Can we run a sweep on what role So.Me occupies at Localist.
CEO perhaps....
@amused observer: have never worked there. Would not want to work there. And don't think they will succeed in the long run.
But I was answering honestly about what their strategy is.
Why would anyone need a large heavy yellowpages book/slab in this digital age??
I use the books to prop up the cameras... Thats what we call a 'pomeroy'
@ So.Me. Localist is going nowhere in terms of its web traffic. If you don't believe me check the stats here (for NZ sites, they are ranked all the way DOWN at # 200) http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/localist.co.nz#
I didn't say they were doing well and am not surprised to see that their traffic is low.
What I did say is that they aimed to set up an online community and the reason they put out paper directories was to capture a part of the market that would eventually convert to digital searching.
It's an understandable strategy and very logical.
But in essence it is venture capital within an SOE. That's taking start-up risk with taxpayers money in a large government environment without any expertise in venture capital whatsoever.
Seems pretty silly to me
Save the trees!
But they have hired a ton of talented people in the digital space which is where they are investing their money.
Seems pretty smart to me.
So.Me - define talented? What evidence do you have to back up this statement?
Let's not turn this into a pissing contest abused observer, but it is well known Localist actively pursued digital talent to help deliver their product offer.
Glubb failed at Yellow and now is making all the same mistakes with tax payers $
Pissing contest? Very eloquent. As for pursuing digital talent, I thought they simply employed some ex Yellow staff. The same staff that failed to move Yellow from a print to a digital business.
Are you sure you don't work for Localist So.Me?
@ So.Me. I pointed to alexa.com because localist is an advertising medium. If there are no users/traffic, there wont be any advertisers over the long term, paying the bills. That's why I don't think it will generate a return. Got it?