Yellow Pages agrees to hand over domain names to rival

Bruce Cotterill, deoarting chief executive of Yellow Pages Group. Photo / Richard Robinson

Yellow Pages Group settled a legal Fair Trading Act dispute with The Localist the same day that chief executive Bruce Cotterill announced he was stepping down from the company.

Cotterill and board member and interim CEO Scott Pomeroy said the settlement and resignation were not connected.

Yellow Pages Group has agreed to transfer ownership of the contested domain names which included variations on the word localist - to Localist.

The Localist is wholly owned by New Zealand Post and is trying to break Yellow Pages dominance of the directories market, but Yellow has obtained some key domain names.

The Localist has in turn agreed to end the legal action it started against Yellow Pages Group earlier this week. Cotterill said he had decided to move on during the holiday break - he will stay on till March 31.

Pomeroy has said there is no rush to hire a permanent CEO and he could be in the role for a year or two. key role for the five person board appointed by creditor banker turned owners owners will be to find a new owner.