Overview:

The yellow pages industry has been rocked in the last few months by economic woes resulting in two major publishers—Idearc Media and R.H. Donnelley—filing for bankruptcy protection and one international yellow pages publisher—Yell Group (London), the publisher of Yellowbook in the U.S.—announcing that it had begun a process to refinance its debt in the hope it could extend the maturity dates and change terms.

While many view the bankruptcies as a sign of a collapsing yellow pages print industry brought on by the Internet, others share the view that the economic woes resulted from decisions at Idearc and Donnelley that caused them to grow too much, too fast and too soon, expanding beyond the abilities to meet financial obligations as easy credit became hard credit.

The RBOC Bankruptcies 2009 takes an in-depth look at the actions behind the scenes that led to bankruptcy court and projects where the companies and the entire industry—both independent and incumbent—are likely to find themselves in the future.

Highlights of The RBOC Bankruptcies 2009 include:

• The cases behind the financial collapse of Idearc and R.H. Donnelley;

• The likely fate of the remaining mega publishers: AT&T, Local Insight and Yellow Pages Group;

• The impact on CMRs and suppliers;

• Delivering yellow pages information through print vs online or mobile;

• The keen competition to print the yellow pages heightens with Quebecor World in bankruptcy and R.R. Donnelley trying to buy the financially ailing printer;

• A look at the industry’s competition—both print and electronic;

• A segment by segment breakdown of the industry.