Whitepages.com

choi

Amy Feldman, The Fraud Detective; Alex Algard risked everything to turn his struggling business, Whitepages, into a fast-growing tech company he expects to generate $150 million in revenue next year. Forbes, Aug 23, 2016.
www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/ ... owing-tech-company/

Quote:

E-commerce "rel[ies] on Whitepages' subscription-based service, Whitepages Pro, to assess millions of transactions each day. Is a buyer trying to pass off a fraudulent credit card? Or using a prepaid phone card and shipping to a Mail Boxes Etc, a red flag for fraud? As businesses crank up their online sales–and consumers move to mobile phones, which are tougher to connect to real addresses–the database that Whitepages began building nearly 20 years ago as a simple online phone directory has become increasingly valuable.

"Whitepages' 42-year-old founder and CEO * * * $70 million in revenue last year * * * The son of a Swedish father and a Korean mother, Algard was born in Stockholm, moved to Vancouver as a teenager and studied economics and engineering at Stanford. * * * [purchased the URL Whitepages.com for just $900]

Note: "Google was horning in on local business search"
(a) horn in on somebody/ something:
"(North American English, informal) to involve yourself in a situation that does not concern you  <I'm sure she doesn't want us horning in on her business>"
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/horn-in
(b) horn in: "to interrupt or try to become involved in something when you are not welcome  <Julie is always trying to horn in on our conversations>"
Cambridge Dictionary
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/horn-in