VNU Group b.v.
Type	Privately-held
Founded	1964
Headquarters	Haarlem, the Netherlands: New York, New York
Key people	Dave Calhoun (Chairman and CEO)
Industry	Media
Products	Publishing Advertising Marketing research Media
Revenue	EUR 3.5 billion (2005)
Employees	42,000 (2005)
Website	www.vnu.com

VNU Group b.v. is a Dutch media conglomerate. It was formed in 1964 through the merger of two Dutch publishing companies. Its original name was Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeversbedrijven, which translates into English as "United Dutch Publishing Companies", but this was shortened to just VNU in 1999. Image File history File links Vnulogo. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005) Advertising is paid communication through a non-personal medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. ... Research is the search for and retrieval of existing, discovery or creation of new information or knowledge for a specific purpose. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, typically common to a particular domain name or subdomain on the World Wide Web on the Internet. ... It has been suggested that Media Institution be merged into this article or section. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... This article is concerned with the production of books, magazines, and other literary material (whether in printed or electronic formats). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Overview

VNU has corporate headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York City, USA. VNU is active in over 100 countries, and employs some 42,000 people worldwide. Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.5 billion in 2005. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613 Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ...

Mergers and Acquisitions: 2005 - 2006

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. 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. VNU is now owned by Valcon Acquisitions.^[1] March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in Leap years). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The Blackstone Group L.P. (not to be confused with investment management firm BlackRock, Inc. ... Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) is a New York City-based private equity firm that focuses primarily on late stage leveraged buyouts. ... May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

Dave Calhoun has been announced the new Chairman and CEO of VNU effective August 23, 2006. Calhoun comes from General Electric where he was Vice Chairman. August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... GE redirects here. ...

VNU 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. Company Name: 3i PLC Company Logo: Company Type: Public Founded: 1945 Created by a syndicate of several British banks]] Location: [London]], England| Key people: Philip Yea, CEO Baroness Hogg, Chairman Industry = Venture Capital and Private Equity Homepage = [1] 3i Group PLC is a venture capital and private equity firm quoted... In the Gregorian Calendar, December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years), at which point there will be 13 days remaining to the end of the year. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

Corporate holdings

VNU is the owner of numerous well-known companies and publications, including:

• ACNielsen, marketing research firm
• AGB Nielsen Media Research, television audience measurement firm, a joint venture with AGB Group
• Adweek weekly advertising industry publication
• BASES, a Simulated Test Marketing (STM) firm
• Billboard, weekly music industry publication
• Brandweek weekly marketing industry publication
• 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
• IMS, media planning and analysis software for industry and proprietary research
• Kirkus Reviews, weekly book review trade journal
• 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.
• Nielsen BuzzMetrics, measures consumer-generated Media (CGM) and word-of-mouth (WOM)
• 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//NetRatings, Internet audience measurement firm
• Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks music sales and downloads
• 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, spinoff of Billboard, 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
• Spectra, provides consumer-centric marketing and sales solutions for the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry
• SRDS, leading provider of media rates and information services
• Tweakers.net, a large Dutch tech new 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

ACNielsen is a U.S. marketing research firm, based in Schaumburg, Illinois. ... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... Brandweek is a weekly American marketing trade publication. ... The Clio Awards are given to reward creative excellence in advertising and design. ... Computing is a weekly newspaper/magazine published by VNU Business Publications for the United Kingdom computer industry. ... IT Week is a weekly newspaper for the UK computing industry, published by VNU Business Publications. ... E&P redirects here. ... The Hollywood Reporter is one of two major trade papers of the film industry in the United States, the other being Variety. ... The initials IMS may refer to: Institute of Materials Science [1], The Institution belongs to the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) [2], Hanoi, Vietnam If-Modified-Since [3], a HTTP/1. ... Kirkus Reviews is an American book review company located at 770 Broadway in New York City. ... Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, better known as BDS, is a service that tracks monitored radio, television and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections. ... Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is a U.S. firm, headquartered in New York City, and operating primarily from Oldsmar, FL, which measures media audiences, including television, radio and newspapers. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally reduferring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by Nielsen Media Research to determine the audience size and composition of television programming. ... Nielsen//NetRatings is an Internet media and market research firm that conducts studies of Ad Relevance and Ad Intelligence, in addition to Internet Audience Measurement. ... Nielsen SoundScan is an information system created by Nielsen Media Research that tracks sales data for singles, albums, and music video products for Billboard and other music industry companies. ... Nielsen VideoScan is the partnership formed between the VNU-owned companies VideoScan and ACNielsen. ... Personal Computer World; new look issue from November 2005 Personal Computer World (usually referred to as PCW) is a long-running British Computer magazine, which was launched in 1978. ... R&R (aka The New Radio & Records) is a weekly music trade publication that follows the radio industry and tracks the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. ... Radio and Records (R&R) is a weekly trade magazine that tracks radio airplay from the various genres including Pop, Country, R&B and many others. ... Billboard Radio Monitor is a weekly music trade publication that follows the radio industry and tracks the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. ... Statistics Population: 50,135[1] Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TA040880 Administration District: Scarborough Shire county: North Yorkshire Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: North Yorkshire Historic county: Yorkshire (North Riding) Services Police force: North Yorkshire Police Fire and rescue: {{{Fire... A joint venture (often abbreviated JV) is an entity formed between two or more parties to undertake economic activity together. ... Arbitron is a radio audience research company in the United States. ... Spectra are conditions or values that vary over a continuum. ... Tweakers. ... The INQUIRER The INQUIRER (sometimes shortened to the INQ and commonly referred to as The Inquirer without caps) is a British technology tabloid[1] news website focusing on the computer and semiconductor industries. ... VNU Group b. ...

Notes

External links

• VNU website
• vnunet.com website
• Claritas.com website