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Verizon to Spin-Off Verizon Information Services & Superpages.com

Verizon’s official announcement regarding the spin-off plans came out just a short while ago. Verizon Communications Corp. is spinning off the business unit that I work for, Verizon Information Services, and its local information website, Superpages.com.

The new company’s name is “Idearc Inc.”, and it will operate under marks of “Idearc” and “Idearc Media“:

idearclogo

 

I’m not allowed to make any sort of forward-sounding business statements in relation to this until the spin-off is completed, due to the usual SEC rules. This is one of the common-sense limits one must place on one’s self, if one is an employee who happens to blog in one’s personal time! 🙂 (Wow! That sounded inhuman and recursive, didn’t it!) While I am an employee of VIS, I’m not speaking here in any sort of official capacity for my company, and any interpretations I place here are completely my own viewpoint. Obviously, nothing I say should be used in making stock purchase/sale decisions!

I can repeat some of the things that were in this spin-off announcement press release, and in recent press releases. The announcement states that the green in the logo is a reference to our “industry-leading SuperPages.com service”. I leave it to you, the reader, whether to interpret this as an indication of how important the company considers the Superpages.com website…

comScore’s recent press release shows Superpages.com to be one of the top two yellow pages sites in terms of usage. Also, we recently issued a press release regarding our great traffic, and Robyn Rose, our VP of Marketing, said:

“There is a reason we continue to be the leading IYP… We creatively provide consumers and advertisers the tools they want and need to find each other and come together to do business.”

Hitwise also recently mentioned our prominence in terms of market share.

I can also say that I think the logo is really great, and nicely representive of who we have been, who we are, and where we’re going! I actually like it more than when they announced the Verizon name to us, way back when. “Idearc” sounds a lot friendlier than “Verizon”. I bet that the “feel” of this name and logo could potentially set our new corporate character. Names and logos can change psychological perceptions.

I enjoy working for Superpages — indeed, I’ve worked here since prior to us being part of Verizon. I started out working for GTE Directories Corporation about ten years ago, and I lingered through our merger with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon. It’s with a slight nostalgia that I’m now following Superpages as we leave the fold of the big, Verizon parent corporation.

I’ll probably post some opinions on the pros and cons of the spin-off, once it’s completed. I’m sure in the next few days all sorts of industry wags will weigh in on it, though, from every direction anyway! 😉

I will be glad when all the divestment activities conclude — we have all sorts of rebranding activities going on, and the separation from various common Verizon Corp systems.

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Posted by of Silvery on 10/18/2006

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