DENVER, Colo. May 23, 2005 – Aptas, ISx and YP Solutions today announced that the three companies have merged to become, Local Matters, Inc., a new company providing telephone directory publishers, mobile and directory assistance service providers with strategic technology solutions in Local Search.
With the merger, Local Matters becomes the largest global provider of advanced search and content solutions to existing media publishers and directory assistance service providers, serving more than 40 companies in 18 countries worldwide. The company will leverage established legacies of technology innovation and content transformation experience to enable publishers to build more productive relationships between local advertisers and consumers through new local search capabilities.
“Local Matters is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the high-growth markets for Internet local search, enhanced directory assistance services, and the burgeoning mobile local search opportunity stemming from the convergence of Internet, voice and mobile services,” said Perry Evans, CEO and founder of Aptas who will now serve as CEO of Local Matters. “The combined entity offers significantly greater scale and resources to market and strengthen its base of industry innovation centered on leveraging traditional publishing business advantages and developing thriving local marketplace services.”
In addition to Mr. Evans, who previously founded MapQuest and Jabber, Local Matters is piloted by a seasoned management team. Don Jones, president of YP Solutions will serve as senior vice president of Publisher Solutions for Local Matters, and Ed Downs, CEO of ISx will continue to serve as CEO of ISx, which will operate as a subsidiary of Local Matters. Aptas executives Jeannette McClennan, chief marketing and products officer, and Susan Dalton, senior vice president of Engineering and Operations, will assume similar positions for Local Matters.
In addition to local search platforms, content transformation services, and enhanced directory assistance, Local Matters is also embarking on a specialized and highly targeted research program, called Local Matters Lab. The Lab will create a research environment to conduct development projects in conjunction with customers and partners in local search, directory services, content enhancement and applications for mobile devices. This research will be led by a cross-disciplinary team who collaborate with industry experts, business professionals and customers to discover compelling new solutions that work for both consumers and advertisers.
About Local Matters
LMI was recently formed through the combination of three leading participants in the local search market: Aptas, Inc. (“Aptas”), Information Services Extended, Inc. (“ISx”) and YP Web Partners, LLC (“YP Solutions”). This transaction combined two leading providers of Internet local search solutions with a leading provider of voice-based local search solutions.
Local Matters, Inc. (LMI), with more than 40 customers in 18 countries is the largest global provider of advanced search and content solutions to incumbent media publishers and directory assistance service providers. Local Matters is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the high growth markets for Internet local search and enhanced directory assistance services and the burgeoning mobile local search opportunity stemming from the convergence of Internet, voice and mobile services. Local Matters is committed to enabling its customers to offer content and feature-rich local search portals and Enhanced Directory Services that are well differentiated from traditional Internet search portals.