AT&T sells Yellow Pages for close to $1BILLION

9 April 2012 Last updated at 10:51 ET

AT&T sells Yellow Pages for close to $1bn

The Yellow Pages generated about $3.3bn in revenues in 2011 for the US telecom

US telecom giant AT&T has sold the Yellow Pages to a private equity firm for $950m (£600m).

AT&T shares fell 0.7% after it sold the local listings business to Cerberus Capital Management, which once owned US carmaker Chrysler.

The sale includes 1,200 Real Yellow Pages print titles - which reach 150 million US homes - as well as YP.com.

The Yellow Pages business units generated about $3.3bn in revenues in 2011.

As part of the deal, AT&T will get a 47% stake in the new entity, YP Holdings.

"It enables AT&T to focus on its core strategy of leadership in wireless, IP, cloud- and application-based services," said Jose Gutierrez, president of AT&T Advertising Solutions.

"At the same time, it gives our advertising customers, partners and developers continued access to strong advertising and search innovation and performance."

The deal includes assets of AT&T Advertising Solutions, which delivers sales and customer support, and AT&T Interactive, and is expected to be closed by the middle of the year.

BBC News - AT&T sells Yellow Pages for close to $1bn