Donnelley agrees to buy Business.com

R.H. Donnelley Corp., a publisher of Yellow Pages phone directories, agreed Thursday to buy Santa Monica-based search engine Business.com for $345 million.

Cary, N.C.-based R.H. Donnelley said the acquisition might delay a dividend, sending the shares down the most in eight years.

Business.com has 100 employees and will have revenue of $50 million this year, R.H. Donnelley said. The search engine serves more than 6,000 business-to-business advertisers.

Jake Winebaum, chief executive of Business.com, will become president of R.H. Donnelley’s interactive unit.

R.H. Donnelley also reported second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates.

It posted net income of $24.9 million, or 34 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $79.8 million, or $1.15 a share. Sales climbed 54% to $666.6 million.

Shares of R.H. Donnelley fell $6.41, or 8.8%, to $66.67, the biggest drop since October 1998.