Well it shows how little notice I've paid to the news recently!
I missed the fact that Yells owners, Hibu have gone into administration!
BBC News - Yellow Pages firm Hibu in administration
No great surprise, and it's been expected for quite some time, but interesting after ThomsonLocal's owner recently went into administration, taking ThomsonLocal down with it, although swiftly rescued by Market Location.
I think it shows how some of these more traditional directories were slow to embrace the digital age and move with the times, but shall be interesting to see how/if Yell bounces back on the PR front.
They haven't actually gone pop... The ownership of the company has changed hands, now 50% owned by Deutsche bank... They have liquidated Hibu Plc - taking Thanks, mattylad
Lehman Brothers thought they were too, you just need the right set of circumstances and then it's all over....  Thanks, Barney
That is absolutely true, but if you read their financials, its easier to understand their position - their downturn in turnover is what they are forecasting until the decline in print meets with the increase of digital revenues. The press just love to tear them to pieces. If you isolated their digital/online performance - its pretty impressive! Thanks, mattylad
“They have liquidated Hibu Plc - taking
Hibu's UK secretary Richard Hanscott said once in past that there company is looking to help small and medium sized businesses in online mobile and social media world as it seems they have been left alone far behind. There were acclaiming 75% of revenue from all digital sources. All that tweet was on the launch of a online store by hibu to help small and medium sized businesses but seems they were a bit late in their thoughts. Markrichard
“Hibu's UK secretary Richard Hanscott said once in past that there company is looking to help small and medium sized businesses in online mobile and social media world as it seems they have been left alone far behind. There were acclaiming 75% of revenue from all digital sources. All that tweet was on the launch of a online store by hibu to help small and medium sized businesses but seems they were a bit late in their thoughts.” To be fair Hibu don't do a bad job at what they do. I have taken some business off them for web design and SEO but more because of the customer service and communication I offer is better than that of a larger company, not because I'm better or they are worse, if you know what I mean. I'd like to see them go, no malice, just that a whole lot of opportunities will open up to us smaller (and after all who's not smaller that Yell?) web design and SEO companies. Jeff Guest
Doesn't massively surprise me - they seemed to move through the digital age like a dinosaur and Hibu's customer service left a lot to be desired. Shame they bought out Qype though, I used to get quite a bit of traffic from our Qype profile for one of the bricks and mortar business I worked for. Thanks, Elizabeth
“Shame they bought out Qype though, I used to get quite a bit of traffic from our Qype profile for one of the bricks and mortar business I worked for.” Wasn't Yell that bought Qype, it was Yelp. They are an American outfit that have a huge presence across the US, but had marginal success in Europe. Buying Qype was a way of boosting their European presence, although Qype traditionally used to get a lot of flak from heavy handed sales techniques, and had mixed reviews. Here's a thread about the demise of Qype: Qype is no more! Hello Yelp
Thanks for pointing out my error.  So many of my American friends swear by Yelp, but here it seems to be a very poor runner up to TripAdvisor and other more niche review sites! Thanks, Elizabeth |
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