AT&T Selling Yellow Pages, Advertising Business

By Josh Long

AT&T on Monday announced an agreement to sell its advertising business to Cerberus Capital Management L.P., a private investment firm.

Through the sale of AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive, the communications company will receive a 47 percent equity interest in the new entity, YP Holdings LLC. AT&T also will receive $750 million in cash, subject to adjustments, and a $200 million note.

YP includes Yellow Pages print directory titles reaching about 150 million homes and businesses in 22 states, website YP.com, an ad network that includes around 300 mobile and online publisher websites, and an app that allows users to search local businesses from their mobile devices.

AT&T said the business units brought in about $3.3 billion last year.

AT&T expects the sale to close in the middle of the year and doesn’t anticipate that the deal will have much effect on its earnings.

The sale excludes the recently formed AT&T AdWorks, which sells advertising offerings across online, mobile and television.