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Nielsen Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Nielsen Company | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Private (as the result of a leveraged buyout) |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Headquarters | Haarlem, the Netherlands: New York, New York |
| Key people | Tom Drouillard (president) Dave Calhoun (Chairman and CEO) Erik Hoekstra (Dutch CEO) |
| Industry | Media |
| Products | Publishing Advertising Marketing research Media |
| Revenue | EUR 3.5 billion (2005) |
| Employees | 42,000 (2005) |
| Website | www.nielsen.com |
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company. It was formed in 1964 through the merger of two Dutch publishing companies De Spaarnestad and Cebema. Its original name was Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven, which translates into English as "United Dutch Publishing Companies", but this was shortened to VNU Group b.v. (or just VNU) in 1999. On January 18th 2007, VNU rebranded as The Nielsen Company, adopting the name of several of its units.
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The Nielsen Company has corporate headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York City, USA. Nielsen is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 42,000 people worldwide. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.5 billion in 2005.
On 17 November 2005, it called off a merger with U.S. health care data provider IMS Health after a shareholder rebellion to the proposed merger. VNU said the two companies decided to call off their merger after shareholders claiming to represent nearly 50% of VNU’s outstanding shares said they would not support the transaction under any circumstances. The merger, announced 11 July 2005, would have required approval from a majority of shareholders to be completed.
CEO Rob van den Bergh resigned as a result of the termination of the merger. He had been one of the chief architects of the transformation of VNU from a Dutch advertising-driven publishing house to a global information and media company.
On March 8, 2006, two major shareholders led by Knight Vinke rejected a friendly buyout from a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.[1] only to accept a raised bid of 7.6B euros on May 22, 2006 or 8.7B euros with debt. The deal was notable for having required one of the biggest equity payments in history for a private equity deal with reports of ~3B euros in equity required. The Nielsen Company is now owned by Valcon Acquisitions.[1]
Dave Calhoun has been announced the new Chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company effective August 23, 2006. Calhoun comes from General Electric where he was Vice Chairman. After his hire, the company announced they would lay off 10% of the workforce, later amended to 10-15%. Calhoun also brought in Mitchell J. Habib, notorious as one of the world's leading proponents of offshoring and transitions to inexpensive labor, as leader of the Global Business Services (GBS) division of Nielsen.
Tom Drouillard was recently named President of Nielsen. He is also the president of media company SRDS and has worked there for over 15 years.
The Nielsen Company sold its Business Publication Europe division to private equity firm 3i on December 18, 2006, but at the time said it was still negotiating about the sale of its activities in France. The division was subsequently divided and sold off in pieces. Incisive Media acquired the UK assets including Computing and vnunet.com on February 8, 2007. On July 10, 2007 VNUNet Europe completed a management buy-out for the online titles in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. 3i held on to the Dutch properties, which are run under the VNU Media umbrella.
In November 2007, VNU Media sold 4 of their PC magazine titles to HUB Uitgevers.
The Nielsen Company is the owner of numerous well-known companies and publications, including:
- DigitalPlus, internal division responsible for the development of strategic business opportunities, relationships and application plans for digital STB data, working in conjunction with clients and multiple internal Nielsen resources.
- ACNielsen, marketing research firm
- AGB Nielsen Media Research, television audience measurement firm, a joint venture with AGB Group
- Adweek weekly advertising industry publication
- Back Stage, entertainment-industry brand aimed at actors, performers and casting directors; includes weekly Back Stage East and Back Stage West trade publications, Ross Reports periodical, Actorfest tradeshows, Casting.BackStage.com website, etc.
- BASES, a Simulated Test Marketing (STM) firm
- Billboard, weekly music industry publication
- Brandweek weekly marketing industry publication
- Burrill Life Sciences Media Group, media and conference company directed towards life sciences
- Claritas, provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services
- Clio Awards, Advertising and Design festival and award show
- Computing and IT Week, weekly newspapers for the UK computer industry
- Editor & Publisher, monthly newspaper industry trade journal
- The Hollywood Reporter, entertainment industry trade magazine
- Homescan & Spectra, provides consumer-centric marketing and sales solutions for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry
- IMS, media planning and analysis software for industry and proprietary research
- Kirkus Reviews, weekly book review trade journal
- Hey! Nielsen, opinion engine and social network website for entertainment enthusiasts
- Mediaweek weekly media (Television, radio, print and outdoor advertising) industry publication
- Nielsen BookScan, offers Point-of-Sale (POS) data for the book industry
- Nielsen BDS, A system that monitors radio airplay based on music spins and audience impressions.
- NielsenConnect, integrates information and services from VNU companies, e.g. Nielsen In-store measurement
- Nielsen EDI, measurement, information and research solutions for the motion picture industry (e.g. box office results)
- Nielsen Media Research, producer of the Nielsen Ratings
- Nielsen Mobile, measurement and research solutions for the telecommunications industry
- Nielsen Online, Internet audience measurement firm, including consumer-generated Media (CGM) and word-of-mouth (WOM) measurement.
- Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales and downloads
- Nielsen RingScan, a service of Nielsen Mobile which tracks ringtone sales
- Nielsen VideoScan, provides VHS and DVD sell-through Point-of-Sale (POS) data
- PERQ/HCI, tracking Healthcare journal performance and crucial competitive intelligence
- Personal Computer World, the UK's oldest computing magazine
- R&R, focusing on monitored radio airplay and the radio industry in general. The magazine is a merged combination of two former rivals: Radio & Records and Billboard Radio Monitor.
- Scarborough, research firm for consumer insights and media habits, a joint venture with Arbitron
- SRDS, leading provider of media rates and information services
- Tweakers.net, a large Dutch tech news website
- The Bookseller, a weekly book industry publication
- The Inquirer, Bleeding edge tech news site, often disputed due to sensitive information being disclosed.
- VNU Advisory Services, consists of BASES, Spectra, Claritas and HCI
- VNU Expositions, business-to-business tradeshows and educational conferences
- vnunet.com, Tech news, reviews and downloads website
- ^ Crum, Rachelle (7 August 2006) "Special Focus: Mergers And Acquisitions: Deal-making at fever pitch: first Half 2006" Tradeshow Week 36(32): p.6-7;