Nielsen Sold to Private Equity Firms for $16 Billion

A consortium of private equity firms is buying video and TV ratings firm Nielsen in an all-cash $16 billion deal. The group is led by Evergreen Coast Capital Corp. and Brookfield Business Partners. Nielsen’s board of directors voted unanimously to support the acquisition proposal after rejecting an acquisition offer of roughly $15 billion from a separate private equity consortium last week. "After a thorough assessment, the Board determined that this transaction represents an attractive outcome for our shareholders by providing a cash takeout at a substantial premium, while supporting Nielsen's commitment to our clients, employees and stakeholders. The Consortium sees the full potential of Nielsen's leadership position in the media industry and the unique value we deliver for our clients worldwide," said James A. Attwood, chairperson of Nielsen's board of directors, in a statement. The bid Tuesday morning was for $28 per share, and the deal is inclusive of debt. Despite Nielsen’s well-documented struggles over recent years, Evergreen said the company will “continue to be the gold standard for audience measurement.” "Nielsen is deeply embedded in the media ecosystem and a trusted service provider to its customers. As a private company, Nielsen will be even better positioned to deliver the best measures of consumers' rapidly changing behaviors across all channels and platforms," said Dave Gregory, managing partner, Brookfield Business Partners, in a statement. "We are pleased to invest in this iconic company and help lead the industry into the next generation of audience measurement." Moving forward and moving up The sale comes just weeks before the 2022 upfronts, and is expected to close in the second half of the year, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The news sent Nielsen stock soaring Tuesday morning, following a year plagued by measurement woes. Last year, it was revealed that it had uncounted audiences during the pandemic. The measurement company was stripped of its national and local TV ratings services' accreditation in September by the Media Rating Council. In December, Nielsen informed its clients, including TV networks and agencies, that it has undercounted out-of-home audiences for national TV programming since September 2020. And earlier this month, the Video Advertising Bureau asked Nielsen to delay its new “big data” monthly impact releases—set-top box and smart television viewership metrics that complement its in-house panel data for national TV measurement—until after this year’s upfront, calling the current data “unusable.” Nielsen has promised to make the appropriate fixes, but other organizations, including NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS, have begun working on creating their own measurement alternatives. Earlier this month Byron Allen’s media group—whose holdings include The Weather Channel and 27 local network affiliates—sued Nielsen, seeking billions of dollars in damages for “fraudulent misrepresentation and fraud by concealment.” Nielsen Rejects $15 Billion Acquisition Offer From Private-Equity Consortium