AT&T Yellow Pages revenue: $7B in 1986
According to a 1986 article, AT&T made $7 billion just from charging businesses to be listed in the Yellow Pages, equivalent to about $13 billion today.
Where this was said
AT&T's Yellow Pages Monopoly and the 'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking' Campaign
At 10:26 · chapter starts 10:20
Phone books were free to receive, but they were anything but free to produce — and AT&T knew exactly how to monetize them [1] — Chuck Bryant "AT&T made $7 billion in 1986 — about $13 billion today — just from charging businesses to appear in the Yellow Pages. It was a government-s…" 10:10 . According to a 1986 article Chuck cites, AT&T made $7 billion annually just from charging businesses to appear in the Yellow Pages. You were never charged to be listed, but you had to pay to be unlisted — a practice Chuck calls extortion and one that many states eventually outlawed through legislation. Josh reveals the 1962 'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking' campaign, which encouraged people to search by phone rather than in person. When the government broke up AT&T's monopoly, regional Bell companies took over their territories — and private publishers flooded the gap, turning Yellow Pages publishing into a competitive free-for-all that would eventually result in some California households receiving up to 10 different phone books per year.
Paying to Be Unlisted Was Basically Extortion
Phone companies listed everyone's name, address, and number by default — then charged you to be removed. Multiple states eventually passed laws against the practice, recognizing it as a form of extortion: pay us or we'll publish your private information.
"Let Your Fingers Do the Walking" campaign, 1962
The iconic 'Let Your Fingers Do the Walking' Yellow Pages ad campaign launched in 1962, encouraging people to find businesses by phone rather than in person.
10 phone books per home in 1990s California
In the 1990s, some California residents received up to 10 different phone books delivered to their homes every year as competition among publishers intensified after AT&T's breakup.
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