Denver-based MapQuest to shed its publishing business

Denver-based MapQuest to shed its publishing business. Check it out:

(Denver Post, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 20--Denver-based MapQuest is shedding its publishing business, cutting roughly 40 jobs.

The company's publishing unit prints maps and atlases that are sold at retail outlets.

MapQuest produced its first printed road map for free distribution at gas stations in 1967, according to its website. The company produces more than 1.5 billion pages of printed maps every year.

"MapQuest is refocusing the company's assets to compete more effectively in a fast-changing marketplace," said Dori Salcido, a spokeswoman for MapQuest. "It's part of the company's ongoing process to better align (its) resources, invest in the future and position the company for sustainable growth going forward." MapQuest's core business is its online mapping website, which gives users driving directions.

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Though MapQuest is still the leader in the online mapping industry, it has faced growing competition recently from Yahoo! and Google.

MapQuest attracted more than 75 million visitors in August, more than double the number of visitors to No. 2 Google Maps, according to comScore Media Metrix.

The company is trying to grow its enterprise arm, which gives companies access to its mapping technology, and its wireless division, which gives users access to MapQuest services on their cell phone.

Salcido said MapQuest is selling the publishing unit to former employees, but it hasn't been determined yet where it will be located. Laid-off employees, who worked from the company's office in Mountville, Pa., will be given the opportunity to apply with the new publishing company.

MapQuest was founded as the cartographic-services division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago in 1967. The company became independent in 1994 as GeoSystems Global Corp. It opened a Denver office in 1995, launched MapQuest.com in 1996 and was acquired by AOL in 2000.

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September 22, 2006 12:32 AM

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