New Zealand Post has sold Localist, the 2011-launched directories business, to a group led by the venture’s CEO Christina Domecq.
Localist was no longer part of New Zealand Post’s strategy as it was “strongly focused on core services and developing growth initiatives across our parcels, financial services and network business”, Post Group CEO Brian Roche said.
There had been encourging signs of progress for Localist over the last 12 months, Roche said, adding it would work with Localist over the next two months to transition the business.It didn’t disclose the value of the sale.
New Zealand Post loaned the subsidiary more than $25 million, but wrote off $13 million of that last October.
Localist launched in 2011 with print and online directories but has since focused solely on online.
It offers local lists for individual browsers, an online local product directory called The Market. Its business services include web pages, analytics and social media.
Domecq is a serial entrepreneur who started her first business aged 20. In 2004 she co-founded Spinvox, a company that provided voice to text conversion. That company was later sold to US-headquartered Nuance.
StopPress has yet to reach Localist for comment.
