The information and media group VNU is changing its name to The Nielsen Company to capitalize on its largest brand. “Nielsen is one of the great names in the information services industry,” the chief executive, David L. Calhoun, said in a statement on Thursday. Nielsen is well known for providing TV viewership information through its ratings business. The ACNielsen arm tracks consumer habits. The company is introducing a corporate Web site, www.nielsen.com.
VNU, based in the Netherlands, was founded more than 40 years ago through the merger of two Dutch publishing companies. It was taken private last year after six private equity firms acquired it in a leveraged buyout for $9.85 billion. Major shareholders decided to break up VNU after a failed takeover of IMS Health. Recently VNU has divested several media properties.
The Nielsen Company is moving to a streamlined, integrated, market-focused structure that will help the company serve its clients more effectively. The changes include a phasing out of the existing Marketing Information (MI) and Media Measurement & Information (MMI) group structures, as well as the creation of centralized, global IT and operations activities and centralized support functions. The new business structure involves six core elements to The Nielsen Company’s structure:
- Marketing & products, including Nielsen Media Research, ACNielsen Advisory Services, Claritas, Nielsen//NetRatings and Nielsen BuzzMetrics
- Consumer & retail client services, including ACNielsen
- Business Media, including magazines and tradeshows
- NielsenConnect, which is responsible for connecting assets across all elements of the Nielsen organization to create new services for clients
- Global business services, including all IT and operations functions
- Global functions, including finance, legal, HR, communications, business planning & development and the transformation office. Source: Company announcement and website
BIIA Newsletter February – 2007 Issue
