At least one interested party is engrossed in negotiations with Denver-headquartered telecoms giant Qwest Communications International over the future of its Yellow Pages directory brand. The price tag is between $8 billion and $10 billion (€11.25m; £0.69m), according to insiders.
The unknown bidder does not have exclusive negotiating rights and a number of private equity firms are also said to be circling all or part of the Yellow Pages properties.
The sale is part of Qwest’s current attempt to reduce its debt mountain and repair investor confidence – both reeling from the double whammy of an industry downturn and an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A Qwest spokesman would concede only that the company “has been considering” a sale of the YP unit and “has started soliciting interest.”
Data sourced from: The Wall Street Journal Online; additional content by WARC staff
