2001 headquarters reading berkshire united kingdom key people alfred mockett chairman david sharman group ceo richard hanscott ceo uk kevin jasper ceo us 1 number of employees 12 531 2012 2 website hibucorporate.com hibu styled hib formerly yell group plc is a multinational directories and internet services company headquartered in reading berkshire uk . it has operations in the united kingdom the united states spain argentina chile and peru . it has its origins in the yellow pages division of the privatised british telecommunications operator bt group . contents 1 history 1.1 1966 2001 1.2 2001 2011 1.3 2011 present 2 operations 3 references 4 external links history edit 1966 2001 edit in 1966 post office telecommunications a division of the uk general post office launched the first uk yellow pages classified directory in brighton sussex . 3 yellow pages were rolled out across the uk by 1973 4 and became the first information provider on prestel . yellow pages launched its iconic j. r. hartley adverts in 1983 and became a separately identified business within the bt group after bt was privatised in 1984 . the red fronted business pages launched in 1985 in bristol and south wales and the telephone directory enquiries information service talking pages was piloted in brighton and bristol from 1987 5 which then became known as 118 24 7 after 2003 . 6 the group launched yell.com its uk local search engine in 1996 7 and acquired yellowbook usa in 1999 for 665 million . 8 the group was renamed yell in 2000 9 and bt restructured in 2001 and agreed to sell the yell directory business to private equity firms apax partners and hicks muse tate & furst today operating in europe as lion capital llp for 2.14 billion 3.5 billion 10 making it then the largest non corporate lbo in european history . 2001 2011 edit yell bought mcleodusa one of the largest independent directory publishers in the us for about 600 million in 2002 11 and floated on london s ftse in 2003 . 12 in may 2005 yell announced the acquisition of u.s. directory publisher transwestern publishing and its holding company transwestern holdings l.p. from a consortium of private equity firms thomas h. lee partners and civc partners for 1.575 billion 829 million . transwestern operated in 25 states and had core positions in california and texas . the deal went through later in the year making yell s u.s. subsidiary yellowbook the fifth largest directory publisher in the united states at that time . 13 transwestern had been acquired by civc partners in 1993 and was used as a vehicle for additional acquisitions of smaller directories publishers in the western us . in 1997 transwestern completed a leveraged recapitalisation in which thomas h. lee partners and providence equity partners acquired a 60 % interest in the company with civc retaining a minority interest . 14 in 2001 transwestern acquired texas based worldpages.com inc. a leading print and internet yellow pages publisher listed on the new york stock exchange for 215 million . at the time transwestern was the second largest independent publisher of directories . 15 in april 2006 yell agreed to purchase a 59.9 % stake in spanish phone directory firm telef nica publicidad e informacion tpi from telef nica and launched a bid for the remaining shares which valued tpi at a total of gb 2.3 billion 3.3 billion ; us 4.1 bn . since then yell has bought further capital and in september 2007 reached agreement with the minority shareholders to acquire the remaining 1.28 % of what was then named yell publicidad now named hibu connect s.a.u. operating under the name p ginas amarillas espa a . 16 in july 2006 yell threatened yellowikis with legal action claiming that people will confuse the two organisations . 17 in 2008 yell group purchased the pindar set business and renamed it yell adworks . 18 in may 2009 yell uk announced an alliance with google to provide search marketing services to small businesses 19 followed by yell publicidad in january 2010 . 20 in june 2009 yell group announced the appointment of bob wigley as chairman following the announcement in may 2009 that existing chairman bob scott would step down . 21 in september 2009 yell s us arm yellowbook acquired texas and louisiana assets of ypone publishing the 10th largest independent yellow pages publisher in the us . 22 yell announced the completion of its refinancing in november 2009 23 as first announced in june 2009 24 and updated in september the same year . 25 in february 2010 yell uk announced the first major redesign in forty years of the traditional yellow pages directories into a smaller compact size rather than the traditional a4 format . 26 in may 2010 yell group purchased trustedplaces 27 a user contributed local review site and its us arm yellowbook announced the launch of a new group buying website called weforia.com in august 2010 . 28 2011 present edit one reading central hibu s current head office in reading 29 several management changes were made in 2011 . mike pocock was appointed yell group ceo from 1 january 2011 replacing previous ceo john condron . 30 richard hanscott was named ceo for the uk part of the business in june reporting to mike pocock . 31 in october scott moore was appointed group chief digital officer . 32 in july 2011 yell announced the acquisition of znode the privately owned multi store ecommerce company 33 and strategic alliances on digital services for small businesses with both microsoft 34 and bazaarvoice . 35 on 14 july yell announced a four year plan to move away from traditional print and online advertising and focus on providing a broader range of digital services for both small businesses and consumers . 36 in september 2011 yell announced an alliance with mobile platform company netbiscuits . 37 in 2011 the company reported spending 160 million on interest payments and incurring losses of 1.4 billion . 38 in may 2012 yell announced that it was changing its name to hibu pronounced high boo and styled hib with rebranding undertaken by landor . 39 the company s shareholders approved the change of name at its annual general meeting held on 27 july 2012 and the new name became effective from 30 july 2012 . 40 41 the company continued to acquire additional companies with moonfruit a diy website company purchased in may 2012 for 18m . 42 in september 2012 it warned that it is working with a number of capital options that which may attribute little or no value to the group s ordinary shares it also warned profits would miss forecasts owing to the ongoing decline of its directory business . 38 as part of a strategic review of the business in spring 2014 hibu decided to discontinue its us magazine business having taken similar actions in the uk spain and latin america . on 3 march 2014 hibu announced that the financial restructuring of the group is now effective following consent from lenders clearance from the uk pensions regulator and court sanction . all of hibu s operations were transferred to a new group holding company held privately by lenders . on 18 august 2014 43 hibu uk changed their customer facing brand back to yell . they re launched with an updated range of products including websites pay per click advertising and a new display advertising proposition . as of june 2015 yell has created over 54 000 websites 44 and managed 20 000 ppc campaigns 45 for customers in the uk . operations edit the company operates in the classified advertising markets in the uk us spain argentina chile and peru through digital printed and telephone based media . it is organised as follows yell uk hibu us p ginas amarillas spain hibu argentina hibu chile hibu peru references edit http hibucorporate.com leadership team yell group plc annual report 2012 yell history 1960 1969 . yell.com . retrieved 11 january 2008 . yell history 1970 1979 . yell.com . retrieved 11 january 2008 . yell history 1980 1989 . yell.com . retrieved 11 january 2008 . 118 24 7 website yell history 1990 1999 . yell.com . retrieved 11 january 2008 . bt buys yellow book usa press release 26 august 1999 yellow pages to become yell plc press release 13 april 2000 yell history 2000 . yell.com . retrieved 11 january 2008 . yell buys us directories bbc news 21 january 2002 europe s ipo trickle could become a flood businessweek 21 july 2003 yell group to buy us phone book rival msnbc 17 may 2005 transwestern publishing company l.p. announces 300 million recapitalization with thomas h. lee company . 8 september 1997 transwestern publishing to acquire worldpages.com ; creates second largest independent telephone directory company with strong presence in both print and online markets . business wire 27 april 2001 yell snaps up spanish rival tpi bbc news 28 april 2006 legal threat to wiki listing site . bbc news . 12 july 2006 . retrieved 12 july 2006 . pindar sell directory division to yell print week 8 july 2008 yell.com stops competing with google sell its adwords instead guardian.co.uk 14 may 2009 yell publicidad p ginas amarillas signs a strategic agreement to become an authorised reseller of google s advertising offer in spain press release 25 january 2010 appointment of chairman press release 8 june 2009 yellowbook acquires texas and louisiana assets of ypone publishing press release 2 september 2009 completion of comprehensive refinancing press release 30 november 2009 yell shares fall on new debt plan bbc news 30 june 2009 yell to raise 500m to repay debt bbc news 23 september 2009 yellow pages directories to be published in handy compact size press release 10 february 2010 yell buying trustedplaces to inject user reviews in to yellow pages guardian.co.uk 20 may 2010 yellowbook launches weforia.com group buying destination press release 25 august 2010 head office . yell group . retrieved 17 january 2011 . yell group plc appointment of chief executive officer press release 9 november 2010 appointment of chief executive officer yell uk press release 29 june 2011 yell appoints scott moore to the new role of chief digital officer press release 25 october 2011 yell acquires znode press release 11 july 2011 microsoft and yell announce plans for a broad strategic alliance to offer smbs innovative digital solutions press release 12 july 2011 yell and bazaarvoice announce strategic partnership to bring enterprise social management to small and medium businesses across the globe press release 13 july 2011 yell announces new strategy press release 14 july 2011 yell announces new alliance with netbiscuits press release 15 september 2011 a b rushton katherine 19 september 2012 . hibu warns its shares could become worthless . daily telegraph . london . retrieved 22 february 2013 . yell surprises with change of name to hibu . independent . london . 23 may 2012 . retrieved 23 may 2012 . yell says received shareholders approval to change name to hibu . reuters . 26 july 2012 . retrieved 7 august 2012 . hibu plc change of name to hibu plc . yahoo finance . 30 july 2012 . retrieved 7 august 2012 . solon olivia 16 may 2012 . yell snaps up diy website and shop builder moonfruit for 18m . wired . retrieved 23 may 2012 . spanier gideon 17 june 2014 . yellow pages in u turn over hibu brand . the independent . london . https business.yell.com websites https business.yell.com ppc external links edit official us website official uk website official corporate website video of the j. r. hartley advert on youtube 1992 version v t e bt group divisions and subsidiaries current bt business bt consumer bt global services bt wholesale bt research bt ireland bt italia ee dabs.com openreach plusnet former madasafish merged into