We were notified this morning of the agreement to merge Dex Media, LLC with publisher RR Donnelley:

Union Leadership Follow-up Communication

The News:

I’m very pleased to announce that Dex has entered into a strategic agreement to merge with RH Donnelley. This merger creates the nation’s third-largest directory company, enabling both companies to maximize our competitive strengths and serve more than 660,000 advertisers and more than 25 million households.  The new company will have approximately 4,400 employees in over 28 states. We will continue to use the Dex market brand across our region, adopting the RHD name and brand from a corporate perspective. 

The Rationale

The new company will combine complementary operating strengths and markets.  Dex brings a proven marketing and sales ability, a leading Internet strategy and a track record for innovation and performance.  RH Donnelley brings a history of operating excellence that should further enhance our performance across the combined company. Together, we also have an attractive mix of markets -- including RH Donnelley markets that include Orlando, Las Vegas and Fort Meyers/Naples. 

With a larger operation and coast-to-coast scale, we look forward to creating a broader platform for expanding our Internet/local search strategy. 

Next Steps

A transition of this size will take time, and we expect the integration process to last approximately four to six months, with a close anticipated in the first quarter of 2006. An integration team will be put together over the coming days that will work through all aspects of the integration. We ask for your patience as we work through the answers to the questions that we know you all have. We do expect there will be some adjustments to employment levels over time but have no specifics at this early stage of the new organization.

Throughout the day today all employees will be communicated to using multiple methods including in-person, voice and electronic formats.

I will keep you informed as appropriate throughout the process. If you have questions, please contact Pat Bradford or me.

Scott A. Bontempo

SVP Human Resources

Dex Media, Inc. 

Attached is a copy of the email notification that was sent out to the employees. Other information such as related media stories regarding both this announcement and Donnelly are available on this website. 

Under the announced terms of this merger, the language in Section 1.7 Successorship (page 4, Dex Media agreement) would clearly apply in that the successor entity – RH Donnelly Corporation – would assume the terms, conditions, duties, and responsibilities of the current contract. 

We will continue to keep you posted. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Attachment 

About RH Donnelly, Corporate Snapshot and Research

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xc:       CWA District 7 Staff