Dial-up Internet access. Retail movie rentals. Yellow Pages directories. These are all businesses with a big customer base but a limited prognosis. What to do?
For Rolla Hoff, the CEO working to turn around Internet service provider EarthLink Inc., the answer is to consolidate the Internet dial-up market and acquire in adjacent businesses. He said in a
conference call Wednesday that besides other ISPs (maybe including AOL LLC) he's targeting e-commerce, online advertising platforms, Internet-based phone services and wireless broadband.
Over at Blockbuster
Inc., the path is perhaps less clear.
Blockbuster acquired Movielink LLC in 2007 for $50 million and went on to
bid for Circuit City Inc. but turned away from the bid earlier this month.
Meanwhile Yellow Pages Group, the Canadian directory provider,
is moving the business online with the acquisition of its longtime database partner Volt
Information Sciences Inc. for $178 million. The U.S.-based Yellow Pages business
RH Donnelly Corp. merged with Dex Media Inc. in 2006 in a similar move. - Maria Woehr EarthLink to pursue AOL unit, and othersBlockbuster one-ups Netflix
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