Whitepages (company)

Last updated

Whitepages
Whitepages logo.svg
Type of business Private
Type of site
Contact Data
Founded1997;27 years ago (1997), in Stanford, California, U.S.
Headquarters Seattle, Washington, U.S.,
U.S.
Country of origin United States
Area served United States
Founder(s) Alex Algard
Key peopleLeigh McMillan, CEO (2019–present) [1]
Industry Information Technology
Search Engines
Products People Search
Phone Search
Home Address Search
Background Check
Services Speed Search
People Search App
Reverse Phone App
Employees32 (2019) [2]
URL whitepages.com
Current statusActive

Whitepages is a provider of online directory services, fraud screening, background checks and identity verification for consumers and businesses. It has the largest database available of contact information on residents of the United States. [3]

Contents

Whitepages was founded in 1997 as a hobby for then-Stanford student Alex Algard. It was incorporated in 2000 and received $45 million in funding in 2005. Investors were later bought-out by Algard in 2013. From 2008 to 2013, Whitepages released several mobile apps, a re-design in 2009, the ability for consumers to control their contact information, and other features. From 2010 to 2016, the company shifted away from advertising revenue and began focusing more on selling business services and subscription products.

History

The idea for Whitepages was conceived by Alex Algard, while studying at Stanford in 1996. Algard was searching for a friend's contact information, and the phone company gave him the wrong number. [4] He thought of an online email directory as an easier way to find people. [5] [6] Algard bought the Whitepages.com domain for $900, [7] [8] which he says was all of his savings at the time. [5] He continued operating the website as a hobby while working as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. [9] He expanded the database of contact information using data licensed from American Business Information (now a part of Infogroup). [8] Eventually, Whitepages was producing more ad-revenue than Algard was earning at Goldman Sachs. [8] In 1998, Algard left his job to focus on the website; he incorporated Whitepages in 2000. [9]

The site grew and attracted more advertisers. The company brokered deals with Yellowpages and Superpages, whereby Whitepages earned revenue for sending them referral traffic. By 2005, $15 million in annual revenues was coming from these contracts. [8] In 2003, Algard stepped down as CEO to focus on CarDomain.com, which he had also founded [4] and Max Bardon took his place as CEO temporarily. [8] In 2005, Technology Crossover Ventures and Providence Equity Partners invested $45 million in the company. [8] [10] That same year, MSN adopted Whitepages' directory data for its "Look it up" feature. [11] Algard returned to the company in 2007. [4] By the end of that year, the Whitepages database had grown to 180 million records [12] and the company was listed as one of Deloitte's 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America three times. [5] [13] By 2008 the company had $66 million in annual revenues. [8]

In 2008, Whitepages said it would start working on options for users to control their information on the site. [14] That same year, it acquired VoIP developer Snapvine [10] in order to add features where users could be called through the website without giving out their phone number. [15] It also introduced an api, which gave third-party developers access to Whitepages' data. [16] Whitepages released an iOS app that August, followed by the Whitepages Caller ID app for Android devices in February 2009 [17] and for Blackberry that May. [18]

The app displayed information on callers, such as their latest social media posts, local weather at the caller's location and the identity of the caller. [19] [20] [21] The ability for consumers to add themselves to the directory was added in the summer of 2009 and being able to edit existing entries was added that October. [22]

Whitepages.com underwent a re-design in 2009. [23] According to VentureBeat reporter Matt Marshall, the redesign made the advertising "cleaner" and made it more obvious when someone was going to a third-party website like US Search. [3] Marshall had previously criticized Whitepages, because website users that clicked on US Search ads and purchased data from US Search were sent through perpetual advertisements for other services that made it difficult to access the information they paid for. [3] [24] A local business lookup feature called "Store Finder" was added in June 2010. [25] The following month, Whitepages.com launched a deal site, Dealpop.com, [26] which differed from Groupon by offering short-term deals on nationally available products. [27] Dealpop was sold to Tippr the following year. [28]

In 2010, Superpages and Yellowpages cut back spending with Whitepages from $33 million to $7 million, causing a substantial decline in revenues and a tense relationship with investors. Algard spent $50 million in cash the company had on-hand and $30 million from a bank loan, to buyout the investors in 2013. He also used his personal house, savings account and personal belongings as collateral for the loan. [8] Algard began shifting the company's business model to reduce its reliance on advertising and instead focus on business users and paid subscriptions. [8] [29]

Whitepages released the Localicious app in July 2011. The app was released on Android first, because Whitepages was frustrated with Apple's approval process for iPhone apps. [30] Whitepages PRO was also introduced that same year. [31] An updated Android app called Current Caller ID was released in August 2012. [19] Within a year of its release, 5 billion calls and texts had been transmitted using the app. It was updated in July 2013 with new features, such as the ability to customize the layout of caller information for each caller and the ability to "Like" Facebook posts from within the app. [32] In June 2013, Whitepages acquired Mr. Number, an Android app for blocking unwanted callers. [33]

In August 2013 Whitepages purchased all the interests in the company owned by investors for $80 million. [34] [35] In 2015, Whitepages acquired San Francisco-based NumberCorp to improve the database of phone numbers used for scams in the Caller ID app. [36] In April 2016, Whitepages spun-off its caller ID business into a separate company called Hiya [37] with a staff of 40 in Seattle. [38] In September 2016, Alex Algard stepped down as CEO of Whitepages, in order to focus on the mobile spam-blocking spin-off Hiya. He appointed Rob Eleveld as the new Whitepages CEO. [39]

Privacy

As of August 2020, users can remove their information from Whitepages by following the tutorial on Whitepages homepage. [40]

Whitepages and similar services have been criticized because of the danger caused by listing the personal information and physical addresses of unwitting people openly online, and for profiting off the exploitation of personal data. [41] [42]

Lawsuits

On February 1, 2017, Kevin Klingler, identified only as a resident of Illinois, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the behavior of Seattle-based Whitepages violates the Illinois Right of Publicity Law. [43]

Services

Whitepages has the largest database of contact information on Americans. [3] As of 2008, its data base covered about 90 percent of the US adult population, [44] including 200 million records on people and 15 million business listings. [5] Whitepages' data is collected from property deeds, [45] telecom companies, and public records. [46] Privacy is a common concern regarding Whitepages' publishing of personal contact information. [47] The Whitepages.com website has features that allow users to remove themselves from the directory or correct and update information. [45] [47] Whitepages.com has about 50 million unique visitors per month [48] and performs two billion searches per month. [31]

Whitepages started developing features for business users around 2010. [8] Whitepages Pro is used for things like verifying the identity of a sales lead, find fake form data in online forms and to check form data from consumers making a purchase against common indicators of fraud, like shipping to a mailbox at an unoccupied building. [8] [31] [49] In 2016, advertising on Whitepages.com was turned off in favor of selling monthly subscriptions that give users access to background checks and other records. [8]

As of 2013, Whitepages provides its data and related services through multiple web properties and mobile apps [50] , including 411.com, PeopleSearch.com and Switchboard.com. [51] The Hiya app (previously known as Whitepages Caller ID) checks incoming calls against a database of phone numbers known for spam or scam calls and helps users report scams to the Federal Trade Commission. [52] [53] Hiya mobile app replaces the Android user interface for making and receiving phone calls. [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yahoo Mail</span> American email service

Yahoo! Mail is an email service offered by the American company Yahoo, Inc. The service is free for personal use, with an optional monthly fee for additional features. Business email was previously available with the Yahoo! Small Business brand, before it transitioned to Verizon Small Business Essentials in early 2022. Launched on October 8, 1997, as of January 2020, Yahoo! Mail has 225 million users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caller ID spoofing</span> Phone caller faking the phone number sent to the recipient of a phone call

Caller ID spoofing is a spoofing attack which causes the telephone network's Caller ID to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a display showing a phone number different from that of the telephone from which the call was placed.

Voice phishing, or vishing, is the use of

telephony to conduct phishing attacks.

Telemarketing fraud is fraudulent selling conducted over the telephone. The term is also used for telephone fraud not involving selling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here Technologies</span> Netherlands-based mapping data company

Here Technologies is a Dutch multinational group specialized in mapping technologies, location data, and related automotive services to individuals and companies. It is majority-owned by a consortium of German automotive companies and American semiconductor company Intel whilst other companies also own minority stakes. Its roots date back to U.S.-based Navteq in 1985, which was acquired by Finland-based Nokia in 2007. Here is currently based in The Netherlands.

YouMail is an Irvine, CA-based developer of a visual voicemail and Robocall blocking service for mobile phones, available in the US and the UK. Their voicemail mobile app replaces the voicemail service offered by mobile phone service providers, and offers webmail-like voicemail access and voicemail-to-text transcriptions. The company also compiles the YouMail Robocall index by monitoring automated call patterns and behaviors, and verifying that activity against numbers that its customers block, or report as spam.

Snapvine was a Seattle, Washington startup company that specialized in providing voice-over-IP features for the users of social networks. The company was founded in 2005 by Joe Heitzeberg, who was the CEO of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WhatsApp</span> Messaging and VoIP service owned by Meta

WhatsApp is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client.

Truecaller is a smartphone application that has features of caller ID, call-blocking, flash-messaging, call-recording, chat and voice by using the Internet. It requires users to provide a standard cellular mobile number for registering with the service. The app is available for Android and iOS.

Google Drive is a file-hosting service and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that allows collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

Viber, or Rakuten Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Google Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS and Linux platforms. Users are registered and identified through a cellular telephone number, although the service is accessible on desktop platforms without needing mobile connectivity. In addition to instant messaging it allows users to exchange media such as images and video records, and also provides a paid international landline and mobile calling service called Viber Out. As of 2018, there are over a billion registered users on the network.

BeenVerified is a background check company that provides consumer initiated criminal background and people search services through its website for profit as well as its mobile application "Background Check App." The company also launched additional mobile applications including a reverse number look up called NumberGuru and a registered sex offender tracking app that uses augmented reality to locate sex offenders.

NumBuster! is a phone community that users can access via a mobile phone client and a Web application. Developed by NumBuster Ltd, it allows users to find contact details of any phone number, exchange information about numbers with other users and block calls and messages. The client is available for Android and Apple iOS.

Whoscall is a mobile application that offers caller identification services. It was developed by Gogolook Co., Ltd., a listed company in Taiwan. The function of Whoscall is to identify incoming calls, detect scam/harassment numbers, and filter spam text messages, blocking them accordingly. Its name is derived from a shorter version of the phrase “Who is calling?“. The app currently has over 100 million users, 2.6 billion phone number entries, 25 billion identified number & SMS, and is available in 31 countries/regions, including Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil. The application owns the largest number database in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Whoscall is also the strategic partner of several governmental agencies in their anti-fraud efforts, including the National Police Agency (Taiwan), the Financial Supervisory Service , Fukuoka City Government., Police Cyber Taskforce (Thailand) the Malaysia police and state government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuze (company)</span> American communications and software company

Fuze is a cloud communications and collaboration software platform designed for the enterprise. Fuze was acquired by 8x8. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Alex Algard is an Internet entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Hiya, Ekata and the founder and former CEO of Whitepages.com, and CarDomain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiya (company)</span> Company

Hiya is a Seattle-based company that provides spam and fraud call protection and identity services to more than 400 million users around the globe.

RealCall is a US-based AI caller identification and call blocking smartphone application, used to detect, engage and block call and SMS scamming and spamming. It has AI algorithms with built-in free reverse phone lookup service and customized answer bots for detection, engagement and blocking of unwanted calls and messages. The app is available for Android and iOS devices.

References

  1. ↑ Soper, Taylor (29 June 2019). "Whitepages splits into two separate entities, forms new enterprise-focused company Ekata". Geekwire . Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  2. ↑ Whitepages splits into two separate entities, forms new enterprise-focused company Ekata, Geekwire, retrieved June 12, 2019
  3. 1 2 3 4 Marshall, Matt (July 14, 2009). "WhitePages, now the largest database of American people, cleans up act". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Broberg, Brad (September 30, 2007). "Founder returns to WhitePages.com". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kim, Paul (February 2, 2011). "A Directory of Success: WhitePages CEO Alex Algard". Examiner.
  6. ↑ "WhitePages.com has number for fast growth". The Seattle Times. October 13, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  7. ↑ Carlson, Nicholas (January 24, 2007). "WhitePages.com: Reach out and search someone". InternetNews. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Feldman, Amy (August 23, 2016). "Alex Algard Risked Everything To Turn His Struggling Firm, Whitepages, Into A Growing Tech Company". Forbes. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  9. 1 2 WhitePages.com: From hobby to number one people search destination (PDF), Private Equity Growth Capital Council, retrieved August 6, 2013
  10. 1 2 Gonzalez, Angel (June 5, 2008). "WhitePages.com to buy Snapvine". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  11. ↑ Gupta, Shankar (April 5, 2005). "MSN Replaces InfoSpace with WhitePages.com". MediaPost. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  12. ↑ "WhitePages.com coverage expands from 40 to 80 percent". The Seattle Times. December 10, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  13. ↑ Collins, Rebecca (November 17, 2010). "WhitePages hires new CTO". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  14. ↑ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (May 19, 2008). "WhitePages.com grapples with privacy in Web 2.0 world". Computerworld. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  15. ↑ Arrington, Michael (June 4, 2008). "WhitePages.com to buy Snapvine for around $20 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  16. ↑ Gunderloy, Mike (March 31, 2008). "Open Phone Data from WhitePages.com". Giga Om. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  17. ↑ Siegler, MG (February 27, 2009). "Caller ID: A paid Android app to better screen my phone calls". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  18. ↑ Marshall, Matt (May 7, 2009). "The background-check scams: Is WhitePages really better than Intelius?". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  19. 1 2 Carr, Austin (August 7, 2012). "WhitePages Launches Caller ID for the Social, Mobile Age". Fast Company. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  20. ↑ Aamoth, Doug (December 4, 2012). "Current Caller ID (Android)". Time Magazine. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  21. ↑ Hardawar, Devindra (August 8, 2012). "WhitePages' new Current Caller ID App is the future of smartphone calling". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  22. ↑ Schonfeld, Erick (October 14, 2009). "WhitePages Now Lets you control your own listings". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  23. ↑ Dudley, Brier (July 14, 2009). "WhitePages launches $2.5 million overhaul". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  24. ↑ Marshall, Matt (May 7, 2009). "The background-check scams: Is WhitePages really better than Intelius?" . Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  25. ↑ Dudley, Brier (June 24, 2010). "WhitePages upgrades business search, adds "store finder"". The Seattle Times.
  26. ↑ Allison, Melissa; Amy Martinez (July 1, 2010). "Local shops join forces with coupon websites to sweeten sales". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  27. ↑ Martinez, Amy (October 20, 2010). "WhitePages' DealPop to try national approach as it takes on Groupon, other coupon websites". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  28. ↑ Woodward, Curt (July 1, 2011). "Tippr Grabs Sales & Tech Talent in DealPop Acquisition, Continuing Daily Deals Dogfight for Third Place". Xconomy. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  29. ↑ Carlson, Nicholas (October 21, 2013). "With Buyback, 16-Year-Old Startup WhitePages Is Doing Something Very Rare With $80 Million". Business Insider. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  30. ↑ Fried, Ina (July 13, 2011). "WhitePages goes Android first with latest app". All Things Digital. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  31. 1 2 3 Murphy, D.J. (October 24, 2012). "WhitePages PRO Taps Phone Data and More to Identify CNP Fraud" (PDF). CNP Report. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  32. 1 2 Hardawar, Devindra (July 25, 2013). "WhitePages' Current Caller ID app powers more than 5B calls & texts, adds new customization features". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  33. ↑ Fried, Ina (June 1, 2013). "WhitePages Scoops up Mr. Number, an Android App for Blocking Unwanted Calls". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  34. ↑ Carlson, Nicholas (October 21, 2013). "With Buyback, 16-Year-Old Startup WhitePages Is Doing Something Very Rare With $80 Million". Business Insider. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  35. ↑ Dickey, Jeff (April 5, 2014). "Nextcast: WhitePages CEO Alex Algard on the distraction of outside investors and keeping your startup zeal". Geekwire. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  36. ↑ Perez, Sarah (June 10, 2015). "Whitepages Acquires NumberCop To Improve Its Scam-Detecting Caller ID App". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  37. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (April 27, 2016). "Whitepages spins out its caller-ID business as Hiya to take on TrueCaller". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  38. ↑ Flynn, Kerry (April 27, 2016). "Meet Hiya: Whitepages Spins Off Caller ID Business With Mission To Fight Robocalls, Spam Texts Worldwide". International Business Times. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  39. ↑ "Whitepages Founder Alex Algard Gives Up CEO Slot To Focus On Caller ID Startup Hiya". Forbes. September 16, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  40. ↑ https://support.whitepages.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010106908-How-do-I-edit-or-remove-a-personal-listing- help page
  41. ↑ Waddell, Kaveh (17 January 2017). "How FamilyTreeNow Makes Stalking Easy". The Atlantic. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  42. ↑ Graham, Jefferson. "Reselling your personal data pays off for Spokeo". USA TODAY. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  43. ↑ "Whitepages latest people search site hit by class action alleging wrongly uses people's names for ads". February 6, 2017.
  44. ↑ Belic, Dusan (May 8, 2012). "WhitePages' iOS app gets nearby search capability". IntoMobile. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  45. 1 2 Kaplan, Dan (December 28, 2007). "Connecticut may let residents remove directory information". SC Magazine.
  46. ↑ Woodward, Curt (August 20, 2012). "WhitePages IDs Growth in the Explosion of Personal Data" . Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  47. 1 2 Ralph M. Stair; George Reynolds; George Walter Reynolds (December 2008). Fundamentals of Information Systems. Cengage Learning. pp. 253–. ISBN   978-1-4239-2581-1 . Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  48. ↑ Koetsier, John (May 31, 2013). "WhitePages acquires Mr. Number, the phone-spam Android app with 7M downloads, to reduce phone spam". VentureBeat. Retrieved December 2, 2013.
  49. ↑ "Whitepages Pro – Mobile Identity Data for Businesses". Whitepages Pro. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  50. ↑ About Us, WhitePages, retrieved December 2, 2013
  51. ↑ Daniel Zhi Sui; Sarah Elwood; Michael F. Goodchild (10 August 2012). Crowdsourcing Geographic Knowledge: Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in Theory and Practice. Springer. pp. 267–. ISBN   978-94-007-4587-2 . Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  52. ↑ Stern, Joanna (June 28, 2016). "How to Stop Robocalls … or at Least Fight Back". WSJ. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  53. ↑ Lerman, Rachel (April 27, 2016). "Whitepages spins out mobile caller-ID startup Hiya". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.