Ink dries on Telstra phone book sale

Telstra takes leave of its Sensis

Telstra has completed the sale of its directories business Sensis to Platinum Equity.

Telstra, which will maintain a 30 per cent stake in the company, sold the White and Yellow Pages publisher for $454 million. Platinum Equity will operate Sensis as a separate entity.

When it announced the deal in January, Telstra said the sale was critical to transforming Sensis into a “fully digital” business.

Also to that digital end, Telstra earlier this month revealed a proposal to cut 800 jobs at Sensis.

Despite all of that, Telstra CEO David Thodey has said there are no immediate plans to discontinue its print directories.

“We still think that there’s a place for a print version, especially in regional areas where there’s still an enormous use there, but there will be a tendency to use less and less print,” he said.

“Knowing the way these changes take place, the tail is probably a lot longer than all of us think at the moment.”

Platinum Equity has proven itself adept at carving out businesses from major companies, including CBS, Emerson and Deutsche Post DHL in 2013.

Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of a dystopian novel about surveillance. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia

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More about CBS CorporationDeutsche PostEmersonPlatinum EquityTelstra CorporationYellow Pages

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