Publisher returns, brand new

When yellow pages publisher R.H. Donnelley emerges from bankruptcy in a few weeks, it definitely won't be the same old company.

It will be Dex One Corp.

That will be the Cary-based company's new name, according to documents filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. The company, which has 450 workers in Cary, won bankruptcy court approval for its reorganization plan Tuesday and expects to exit bankruptcy in a few weeks.

Donnelley spokesmanTyler Gronbach confirmed that the company will switch its name to Dex, the brand name it splashes on the covers of the yellow pages directories it publishes in 28 states. The company's online yellow pages site is www.DexKnows.com.

"This is aligning our company name with our go-to-market brand and product names, and it better positions us to leverage the awareness and strength we currently enjoy in our markets," Gronbach said.

Donnelley conducted market research with customers and other core audiences, and found that the Dex One moniker resonated with them.

"There was great strength in that Dex brand," Gronbach said.

The name change makes sense from a Wall Street perspective, said Ken Clark, the publisher of YP Talk, an online industry newsletter based in Holly Springs.

"Donnelley is always going to be linked to a company whose stock went from 80-something to zip," he said.

In addition, said Clark, consolidating under a single brand name could be a good move - if the company can afford to promote the Dex brand post-bankruptcy.

There's also some irony to the name switcheroo.

Donnelley acquired the Dex brand when it paid $4.2 billion for Colorado-based Dex Media in 2006, a move that more than doubled the company's size. However, the additional debt the company assumed with that deal, coupled with declining advertising revenue triggered by the recession, helped push the company into bankruptcy in May.

"But I would say this," said Gronbach, "the restructuring process has allowed us to preserve our core business and [has given] us an opportunity to have a stronger financial foundation."

The company's restructuring shaved its debt by $6.4 billion.

One plus associated with the name change: The company no longer will be confused with R.R. Donnelley & Sons, the giant printing company based in Chicago. What today is R.H. Donnelley spun off from R.R. Donnelley in 1916.

Nor will this be the company's first name change. It was once known as Reuben H. Donnelley Corp.