Yell (company)
UK marketing and directory company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yell Group Limited, also known as Yell UK, is a digital marketing and online directory business in the United Kingdom. Yell has created more than 110,000 websites and managed 90,000 pay per click campaigns for customers in the United Kingdom.[1][2] Yell published Yellow Pages from 1966, originally as part of the General Post Office (GPO) telephone directory, and launched its Yell.com website in 1996.
| |
| Formerly | Hibu Group Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online Marketing |
| Predecessor | British Telecom |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Reading , Berkshire, United Kingdom |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | Mark Clisby (Co-CEO) Luke Taylor (Co-CEO) |
| Products | Yellow Pages (1966–2019) Yell.com (1996–present) Website design Google PPC Online advertising |
| Website | https://about.yell.com/ |
History
The GPO first included Yellow Pages in its telephone directory for Brighton in 1966, expanding it throughout the UK from 1973.[3][4]
Yell.com was first launched in January 1996 as the local search engine for businesses in the UK.[5][6] In January 2001, Yell announced a demerger from its parent company, BT (the GPO's post-privatisation successor), abandoning a proposed stock market flotation.[7] In May 2001, Yell was sold to venture capitalists Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion in May 2001.[8]
It was announced in April 2005 that Yell was partnering with Google to make local classified content available through Google's search engine.[5] Yell integrated Apttus technology into its search engine to broaden its search capacity and enhance site development.[9] Yell also expanded its offerings in 2009 to include Google Ads.[10]
In 2006, Yell threatened Yellowikis with legal action, claiming that consumers would confuse the two organisations.[11]
A Yell.com app was launched on the iPhone app store in 2009.[12] The following year, Yell UK announced that it was changing its traditional Yellow Pages A4 format to a smaller size to improve usage of the directory. At that time, the directories contained an average of 54 per cent recycled fibre content.[13]
Yell moved into their new headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, in October and Richard Hanscott was named as the company's new CEO the following year.[14][15] Yell’s parent company, Yell Group, announced in 2012 that it was changing its name to Hibu UK.[16][17] The company acquired Moonfruit, a DIY website company, purchased in May 2012 for £18m.[18] On 18 August 2014,[19] Hibu UK changed their customer-facing brand back to Yell. They re-launched with an updated range of products including websites, pay-per-click and display advertising. As of June 2015, Yell has created over 54,000 websites[20] and managed 20,000 PPC campaigns[21] for customers in the UK.
The company relaunched with updated websites, pay-per-click advertising and a new display advertising proposition.[16] Glassdoor named Richard Hanscott in November 2016 to its list of “Highest Rated CEOs in the United Kingdom”.[22] In 2017, the company announced that the publishing of Yellow Pages on paper would cease.[23] The final edition was published in January 2019 for Brighton.[24]
Claire Miles, (formerly of Centrica), was announced as the new CEO in 2019.[25] Florida-based private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital acquired Yell’s sister company Hibu on 29 March 2021, including their US-based business assets.[26]
In January 2023, Mark Clisby and Luke Taylor become Co-CEOs of Yell following Claire Mile's decision to step away from the company. [27]