Earnings: Acquisitions Spur Revenue Growth At Nielsen; Buzzmetrics: $47 Million; NetRatings: $328 Mi

The Nielsen Company (fka VNU) reported quarterly revenue growth of 15 percent over the year-ago period (pro forma), hitting $1.17 billion, although growth would have been significantly slower without a currency benefit. The company’s acquisitions of Netratings, Buzzmetrics and Valcon led to a significant sales boost in all three of its business lines, Consumer Services (market research), Media (ratings) and Business Media (trade pubs, events). The moves have come at a time when media ratings agencies are coming under pressure to improve their accuracy and do a better job accounting for changing media consumption habits.

Operating income for Q2 was $100 million compared to pro forma operating income of $45 million in Q206. The Q207 results were negatively impacted by $36 million in restructuring costs and $9 million in Nielsen//NetRatings deal related costs and payments in connection with compensation agreements and recruiting expense for some corporate executives. Release.

Some figures on acquisition deal size from Nielsen’s 10-Q, filed today: $47 million for the remaining chunk of Buzzmetrics and $328 million for NetRatings.

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