Wednesday, December 14, 2005

VNU receives takeover offer and struggles

VNU, the business information group still reeling from the collapse of its proposed merger with IMS Health, said it had received a takeover offer from an unnamed party and cut its sales forecast following a sluggish performance from AC Nielsen, its market research business.

What a mess. VNU, seems to be forever struggling with shareholder and now ownership issues whilst also struggling with the ongoing business. And one has to ask the question of whether AC Nielsen is prepared for the new digital age of TV ratings and research. Many an upstart could come forward to challenge them in their traditional approach to viewer analysis, which seems a little too finger in the air for the digital age.

So, VNU now has to find a new CEO, $1bn promised to shareholders and some cost savings to fund this and likely performance challenges. Good luck to you guys. I'm not quite sure I understand why the private equity doods are interested in this one - oh well.

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