Yellow Pages Unlisted From AT&T

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - AT&T(T) is selling a majority stake in its Yellow Pages phonebook directory unit to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for roughly $950 million, as large telecoms continue to hang up on printed directory businesses.

As part of the deal, Cerberus will pay AT&T $750 million in cash and a $200 million note for a majority 53% stake Yellow Pages business that will give it control of a printed phonebook business that reaches roughly 150 million homes and drew in $3.3 billion in 2011 revenue.

AT&T Dials In Cerberus for Yellow Pages Sale

AT&T will keep a minority 47% stake in Yellow pages, as it continues to focus on bolstering its service of mobile smartphones like Apple's(AAPL) iPhone. In December, antitrust regulators blocked a $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA, which would have expanded AT&T's wireless network and helped it keep pace with competitor Verizon(VZ) .

Meanwhile, divesting control of Yellow Pages and its printed directories will allow AT&T to exit a business that being pressured from Web-based rivals like Google(GOOG) and Yelp(YELP) .

Still, Yellow Pages does have an online presence in spite of its recognizable large, yellow printed phonebooks. The business, which was housed in AT&T's Advertising Solutions and Interactive divisions runs YP.com, a top 30 Web site and an ad network that touches hundreds of online publishers and draws in 71 million monthly unique visitors, AT&T said in a statement.