Yellowbook history
Yellowbook is the largest and oldest independent directory company in the US. It began in 1930 as Merchants Advertising Inc. who published local community directories for Long Island. The company became known as Yellowbook in 1949.For a more detailed look at our history, go to the Yellowbook Company Profile page on the Yellowbook web site.
| 1930 |
| Merchants Advertising Service Inc publishes local community directories for Long Island |
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| 1949 |
| The company becomes known as Yellow Book |
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| 1950s - 1970s |
| Expansion through new directories as well as developing original publications |
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| 1986 |
| New owner Multi-Local Media Corp |
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| 1995-1997 |
| Series of acquisitions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York |
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| 1997 |
| Acquisition of RH Donnelley Proprietary East - Yellow Book is now the largest independent directory publisher with 250 books in 7 states |
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| 1998 |
| Enters 5 new markets and acquires Southern Directory Company |
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| 1999 |
| Acquires Dixie Directory Company, Yellow Page One and launches new books in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Manhattan. Yell acquires Yellow Book |
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| 2000 |
| Launches new books in New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Florida and Boston Acquires Dellwood Publishing, Sunshine Pages, Carolina Publishing, RH Donnelley's One Book Yellow Pages in Greater Cincinnati and Sprint Publishing adding 55 directories |
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| 2001 |
| Acquires CGC directories, first move West of the Mississippi |
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| 2002 |
| Launches in Birmingham and Connecticut Acquires AlabamaDirect Cullman Area-Wide Country, Pinnacle Directory Company, Mann Media and Chesapeatre Publishing Corporation Acquires McLeodUSA Media Group in April, doubling footprint to 38 states and Washington DC Acquires National Directory Company in December, expanding on the West Coast and increasing the coverage to 41 States and DC |
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| 2003 |
| Acquires San Luis Valley Yellow Pages, Pioneer Telephone Directories Corporation, Dag Media, Directory Publishers Inc, FYI Directories and further directories from CGC |
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| 2004 |
| Acquires Feist Publications Inc in March, expanding platform in Oklahoma and Kansas and extending into Texas for the first time, increasing the coverage to 43 states and DC Acquires New Mexico Directories, further directories from Pioneer Telephone Directories Corporation, Cannon Publishing and US XChange |
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| 2005 |
| Acquires TransWestern Holdings L.P in July, extending the coverage to 46 states and DC Acquires Downey Publishing, another directory from Pioneer Telephone Directories Corporation, four directories from New South Directory Company and two directories from User-Friendly Phone Book |
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| 2006 |
| Acquires Click Forward Marketing LLC, to improve advertising effectiveness through the internet Acquires Clarke Directory Publications Inc. of California |
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| 2007 |
| Acquires Paradise Yellow Pages from Paradise Media Group (Honolulu) extending our coverage into Hawaii for the first time Acquires eight ‘Plaid Book’ directories from MacGregor Publishing, expanding our footprint in Washington |
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| 2008 |
| Yellowbook expands into South Carolina, extending our footprint to 48 states and the District of Columbia |
