THRY
Bye-bye, phone-book era
Thryv is cutting loose its print directories business, the kind of asset that feels like it belongs in a museum next to flip phones and AOL discs. The deal covers Print Yellow and White Pages in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, plus the digital versions tied to those directories.
Why this matters
For Thryv, this is less about nostalgia and more about sharpening the business. Selling off old-school print assets can free up management attention and potentially improve the company’s mix, especially if it wants investors to think about software and digital services instead of dead-tree relics.
The investor angle
A move like this usually raises a simple question: is the company becoming more focused, or just shrinking its way into a cleaner story? The answer depends on the deal terms, which weren’t disclosed here. But the direction is clear — Thryv is trying to look a lot less like a phone book company and a lot more like a modern tech business.
Big picture: when a company sells the business that screams “1997,” it’s usually telling you where it thinks the future lives.