Nielsen To Buy Rest of NetRatings For $327 million; Ups Previous Price

Privately-held Nielsen (fka VNU) will pay about $327 million ( to buy the 40 percent stake in online measurement firm NetRatings that it does not already own. Nielsen would pay $21.00 a share in cash , and this price represents a 16 percent premium to NetRatings’ closing price on Friday, and also is substantially higher than a $16 per share offered last year by Nielsen.
The merger is expected to be completed in the second quarter of calendar year 2007, subject to customary conditions and approvals. Nielsen is the parent of TV ratings provider Nielsen Media Research, as well as the publisher of Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek, among others. More details in release.

Comments have been disabled for this post