Yell, also known as Yell UK, is the subsidiary in the United Kingdom of global media organization, hibu. Operating in the online marketing space, as of , Yell has created over 54,000 websites and managed 20,000 PPC campaigns for customers in the United Kingdom. Yell has been publishing yellow pages since 1966, originally as a portion of General Post Office, and launched its Yell.com website in January 1996.
History
first included Yellow Pages in its telephone directory for Brighton of 1966. The General Post Office expanded its Yellow Pages throughout the United Kingdom in 1973. In January 1996, Yell.com was launched as a local search engine for businesses in the United Kingdom. Yell announced a demerger from its parent companyBT in January 2001. In May 2001, Yell was officially sold to venture capitalistsApax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion. In April 2005, it was announced that Yell was partnering with Google to make local classified content available through Google's search engine. Yell integrated Apptus technology into its search engine to broaden is search capacity and enhance site development in January 2008. In May 2009, Yell expanded its offerings to include Google AdWords. Yell threatened Yellowikis with legal action in July 2006, claiming that consumers would confuse the two organisations. In October 2009, an app was launched for Yell.com on the iPhone app store. Yell UK announced that it was changing its traditional Yellow Pages A4 format to a smaller size in February 2010 in order to improve usage of the directory. At that time, the directories contained an average of 54% recycled fiber content. In October 2010, Yell moved in their new headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. Richard Hanscott was named CEO of Yell in June 2011. In May 2012, Yell's parent company Yell Group announced that it was changing its name to Hibu. In August 2014, Hibu UK changed its customer facing brand back to Yell. They relaunched with updated websites, pay per click advertising and a new display advertising proposition. In November 2016, Glassdoor named Richard Hanscott to its list of Highest Rated CEOs in the United Kingdom. In September 2017, it announced that the Yellow Pages will be no longer be published on paper from 2018 since it launched in 1966. The final edition was published in January 2019. In August 2019, it was announced that Claire Miles would become the new CEO for Yell starting in October 2019. In June 2020, an Early Day Motion was tabled in the UK Parliament by Kirsten Oswald MP calling for an investigation into Yell's business practices..
