SuperPages Canada, Canada’s second-largest phone directory, will be closing down its operations in Ontario and Quebec resulting in approximately 200 job cuts. The shut-down of the eastern Canada branch of the company has been reported as being a direct result of the company’s inability to make a significant dent on Yellow Pages’ stranglehold on the region. Speculation is that Yellow Pages will purchase the eastern Canada division of Super Pages.
Meanwhile, Red Toronto touts itself as the solution for small and big businesses alike looking for a way to break from Yellow Pages’ Wal-Martian rule of the phone directory business. Red Toronto offers a single price for advertising across its assorted media outlets (print, on-line, and URL links). Red Toronto also has an affiliated Web site, http://www.redto.com which currently has 80,000 listed companies. Since its launch in July, has seen its viewership increase 30% each month and currently boasts close to 30,000 hits each week.
