DEX One

Dex One Corporation

Industry	Print and Interactive Marketing
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, US
Parent	Dex Media, Inc.
Slogan	Helping Local Businesses Grow
Website	www.dexone.com

Dex One Corporation was an American marketing company providing online, mobile and print search marketing via their DexKnows.com website, print yellow pages directories and pay-per-click ad networks in the U.S.

In April 2013 Dex One merged with SuperMedia, and the combined company now does business as Dex Media.

History

Dex One Corporation was founded as the R. H. Donnelley Company in 1886 by Reuben H. Donnelley, son of RR Donnelley founder Richard R. Donnelley, as The Chicago Directory Company. Donnelley primarily contracted with The Chicago Telephone Company to publish telephone directories for Chicago Telephone customers. In 1906, however, Donnelley would venture outside Chicago, contracting with Bell System firms such as New York Telephone, Wisconsin Telephone, and Cincinnati Suburban Telephone Co.

In 1917, The Reuben H. Donnelley Company was incorporated and moved to New York City, retaining some offices in Chicago. In 1929, Donnelley died, leaving behind his company which continued to contract with the Bell System to publish telephone directories.

In 1961, Dun & Bradstreet Corp merged with R.H. Donnelley becoming a wholly owned subsidiary.

Partnerships

Following its merger with D&B, the company began a series of partnerships with several telephone companies to publish directories. Around this time, competition started with other phone companies to provide directories.

From 1980 to 1985, R.H. Donnelley began a partnership with United Telephone (Sprint), called Uni-Don, to publish telephone directories to customers in central Florida.

In 1986, it contracted with NYNEX to become its directory sales agent. The same year, R.H. Donnelley started publishing directories in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in competition with Bell Atlantic, although a lot of these areas were later sold off to Yellow Book.

In 1988, it formed Cen-Don with Centel (now part of CenturyLink) to publish telephone directories in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. Venture One was formed with Southwestern Bell Corporation, which published directories in competition with Bell Atlantic in Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C.

In 1990, DonTech was formed with Ameritech to publish telephone directories in Illinois and northwest Indiana.

Public offering

On July 1, 1998, D&B spun off R. H. Donnelley into a separate, publicly traded company beginning to trade on the NYSE under the "RHD" symbol.

In 2002, R.H. Donnelley acquired Sprint Directory Publishing, the publishing unit of Sprint Corp.

R.H. Donnelley Publishing & Advertising, Inc., the division of R. H. Donnelley that publishes directories under the EMBARQ Yellow Pages name, was acquired from the Sprint Corporation in 2003 as Sprint Publishing & Advertising, Inc., Directories America, Inc. and Centel Directories, LLC.

In 2004, R.H. Donnelley acquired the directory publishing business of SBC Communications in Illinois and northwest Indiana, along with the SBC interest in DonTech. As a result, R.H. Donnelley gained a 50-year licensing agreement to use the SBC Yellow Pages name on all directories published for SBC Illinois customers. Following the AT&T merger, the directories were known as "AT&T Yellow Pages published by R.H. Donnelley".

In 2006, following its spinoff from Sprint Nextel, R.H. Donnelley directories in former Sprint areas became the Embarq Yellow Pages.

In 2006, R.H. Donnelley completed its acquisition of Dex Media, which had been spun off from Qwest in 2002-2003. Following the acquisition, R.H. Donnelley became the third largest directory publisher in the United States.

In January 2007, R.H. Donnelley bought Local Launch Search Marketing^[1] to add strength to its online marketing division for its yellow pages.

In July 2007, R.H. Donnelley bought Business.com.^[2]

On December 31, 2008, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) suspended trading of R.H. Donnelley because the company's market capitalization was less than $25 million for 30 consecutive trading days, which failed to meet the Exchange's listing standards. As a result of this suspension, R.H. Donnelley began trading its common stock over-the-counter (OTC) on the Pink Sheets beginning on January 2, 2009, under the symbol "RHDC".^[3]

In June 2009, R.H. Donnelley Corporation and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy.^[4] In February 2010, R.H. Donnelley Corporation emerged from bankruptcy as Dex One Corporation.

On February 1, 2010, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) started trading 50 million Dex One Corporation shares under the "DEXO" ticker symbol.

Today

Dex One Corporation is a leading marketing services company that helps local businesses reach their potential customers. Locally based marketing consultants offer personalized marketing consulting services and exposure across a broad network of local marketing products, including print, online and mobile yellow pages and search solutions, as well as major search engines.

The company cut over 500 jobs in 2011 as revenues decreased, hurt mainly by a 20 percent yearly decline in print directory sales. However, online ad bookings jumped 29 percent in third quarter 2011 and 34 percent in fourth quarter 2011, compared to a year earlier. The company hired sales people who knew how to effectively take advantage of online capabilities, though that area would not make up for the slowdown for print directories.^[5]

Merger with SuperMedia

On August 21, 2012, Dex One and SuperMedia announced a stock for stock merger transaction. The merger closed on April 30, 2013.^[6] The new company is called Dex Media (not to be confused with the original Dex Media).^[7]

The merger reunites directory operations formerly part of Ameritech in Illinois, Verizon, and Qwest, all of which haven't been under common ownership since the Bell System divestiture in 1983.

See also

• Dex Media - Company acquired in 2006
• RR Donnelley - otherwise unrelated company founded by the father of Reuben H. Donnelley

References

1. "Yellow Pages Online, Phone Book & Business Directory | DexKnows". Locallaunch.com. 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
2. "R.H. Donnelley to Acquire Business.com Inc.". Phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
3. "R.H. Donnelley Stock to Trade Over the Counter". Retrieved 2009-01-16.
4. "Business.com Owner Files for Bankruptcy". Domain Name Wire. June 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
5. Ranii, David (2012-03-01). "Investors are encouraged as Dex cuts costs". News & Observer. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
6. "Dex One and SuperMedia Complete Merger, Move Forward Together as Dex Media". http://ir.supermedia.com/. Retrieved 2013-05-01. External link in |publisher= (help)
7. "DEX ONE AND SUPERMEDIA WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A NATIONAL PROVIDER OF SOCIAL, LOCAL AND MOBILE MARKETING SOLUTIONS" (PDF). My.supermedia.com. Retrieved 2012-10-07.

External links

• Dex One website