Verizon Communications filed papers Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would enable it to spin off its domestic phone book and Web directory business. But the company says that doesn’t make a spin-off inevitable or close the door on other options—including perhaps the sale option that was floated last December.
Friday’s filing could create a new company which would include the Superpages.com Internet directory service. If the spin-off took place, the company would employ about 7,100 people and be headquartered in Dallas. The subsidiary, now called Verizon Directories Disposition Corp., would be re-named and would continue to operate Verizon’s U.S. directories publishing business.
Verizon stockholders would receive shares in the new company.
The company said in a statement that it “has not yet made a final decision on whether a spin-off will occur,” but that it expects a complete disposition of its directory publishing business “which could include the spin-off, a sale or other transaction, or combination of these alternatives” to occur by the end of this year.
Last December, Verizon announced that it was considering changing the status of its publishing operations. At the time, most industry observers thought a sale of the directories business was the most likely course of action and would allow Verizon to raise capital for building out its cellular and broadband networks.
The Kelsey Group, a firm specializing in local and directory advertising, said in a blog post that the Verizon filing indicated a 5% decline in operating income for the directories subsidiary between 2001 and 2005. According to the post, the filing indicated that Verizon’s Internet directory has almost 200,000 advertisers and contributed 6% of the division’s revenue.
