A few people internally at SuperMedia’s Superpages have pinged me this week to let me know of a larger layoff that happened yesterday at the company — reportedly 300 or more employees, primarily in the Internet Sales Division, were layed-off. I’m surprised Dallas Morning News hasn’t reported on it.
Dex One is apparently also planning to lay off 65 graphics workers in Colorado.
Both companies have already gone through a few rounds of cuts at this point, severely reducing the numbers of employees they have. I’ve also heard that both companies are using similar language around plans to outsource various functions overseas.
While it’s not surprising that either company would be doing cost-cutting activities, I continue to believe that the silver lining may be that these actions still look like possible advanced reorganization plans prior to merger of the yellow pages companies.
It might be significant that the layoffs are happening somewhat in sync.
My heart goes out to the layed-off employees — I hope you all find new replacement jobs quickly! Just know that there is life after Superpages. 🙂
Double Bankruptcy Required for Dex One / SuperMedia Yellow Pages Merger?!?
Thursday, October 25th, 2012In nothing short of earth-shattering news, it was reported that the Dex One – SuperMedia yellow pages companies merger is apparently on the rocks due to the companies’ creditors being unwilling to accept financial terms. Worse yet, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing states that the companies might have to restructure under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to make the merger deal work!
Quoted from the Form 8-K filed by Dex One:
If you haven’t kept up with recent years’ history, the surreal part of this is that both companies already emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring not that long ago. In June of 2009, R. H. Donnelley Company filed for bankruptcy, and Dex One rose from its ashes in February of 2010. Idearc Media, earlier known as Verizon Information Services, had been spun off from Verizon with an irresponsibly high debt load, and as a result filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March of 2009, later to emerge from the rubble as SuperMedia in December of 2009.
The Triangle Business Journal headline reports that bankruptcy is a possibility for Dex One, perhaps because the filing states that “Dex One recognizes…”. However, the wording is such that it clearly states that possible (more…)
Tags: bankruptcy, chapter 11, Dex One, M&A, mergers, SuperMedia, Superpages, Yellow Pages
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