New AT&T directory sales center planned for Olivette

AT&T Advertising & Publishing plans to open a new sales center and hire 100 new employees here this year.

Advertising & Publishing, based in St. Louis, is the print and online directory unit of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) based in San Antonio. The publishing entity, whose best-known product is the Yellow Pages directory, already employs 780 people in Missouri, and more than 650 of those workers are based in downtown St. Louis.

Dennis Payne, president and chief executive of AT&T Advertising, said the workers slated for hire will be located in a new sales center in Olivette, where AT&T Inc. already has an office with about 100 people. The new employees, he said, will help the publishing and advertising unit expand its market share nationally, with half of the workers selling online advertisement for Yellowpages.com.

The expansion plans follows the completion late last year of AT&T's purchase of Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. for about $85 billion. BellSouth has its own advertising and publishing unit, which employs about 5,000 and generated annual revenue of about $2.1 billion last year, compared to AT&T Advertising, which has 6,000 employees nationwide and annual revenue about $3.7 billion.

Earlier this year, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt led a group of state and St. Louis city economic development officials to lobby AT&T to keep the headquarters of its advertising and directory business in the city. The officials were worried that the headquarters would shift following AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth, said Barbara Geisman, executive director of development for the city of St. Louis.

"When AT&T merged with BellSouth, we knew we were effectively competing against Atlanta for the Yellow Pages headquarters," Geisman said. "We are thrilled they (AT&T) decided to keep the headquarters here."

Geisman said AT&T's decision to keep its advertising and publishing unit's headquarters here is good for St. Louis. The city last lost thousands of jobs following the 2005 sale of May Department Stores Co. to Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc.

Payne said AT&T's decision to retain the advertising and directory headquarters in St. Louis was based on several factors, including the company's long history here, the city's central location and low cost of living in the region.

"The AT&T directory business has been heaquartered here since 2000," Payne said. "There is a real work force here; we like the sales pool here."

The AT&T and BellSouth combined adverstising and publishing business will employ nearly 12,000 people in 22 states and generate annual revenue of about $5.8 million. Payne will head the unit.

Despite the decision to keep AT&T Advertising & Publishing here, AT&T will still have a siginicant presence in Atlanta, Payne said. BellSouth has more than 100 sales and publishing offices in the company's telephone footprint, he said.

AT&T Inc. provides local and long-distance telephone and Internet service in Missouri and Illinois. AT&T as a whole has about 5,600 employees in downtown St. Louis at One AT&T Center, 909 Chestnut St., which serves as the company's regional headquarters.

pthimangu@bizjournals.com