How deep where the price cuts?
Goddard: In some metro markets it was a minimum of 10%., but it was also not unusual to see even higher cuts being made, almost a “what will it take to make this happen” type situation. In the smaller, more rural areas there was much less cutting. I think it reflects what the marketplace is willing to pay given the options they have and the status of the economy. YPT: Do you feel the exceptionally low stock prices of some of the majors like RHD and Idearc are a reflection of bad management decisions or just an overall industry impacted by a bad economy?? Goddard: The stock prices are more a reflection debt levels carried by those publishers. Any company, regardless of the industry, carrying heavy debt levels in tough economic times, are going to have lower stock prices in this market. And in this really bad economy Yellow Pages print advertising becomes an easy target and the industry is not presenting a united front in promoting the value of the products, both print and online. This i
