Elliott consortium in talks to buy TV ratings outfit Nielsen for $21bn

A deal could value the TV-ratings company at about $US15 billion including debt.

Nielsen's hold on US TV ratings has been loosening as streaming gains steam and traditional broadcast and cable lose viewers. Picture: Liam Kidston.

A consortium of private equity firms including Elliott Management is in advanced talks to buy TV-ratings company Nielsen for about $US15bn ($20.9bn), including debt.

Financing talks with a number of banks were progressing and a takeover deal could be completed within weeks, sources said. There is no guarantee there will be a deal, as the talks could still fall apart.

Should there be one, it would be substantial. Nielsen had a market value of $US6.2bn on Monday morning and an enterprise value of more than $US11bn, given its hefty debt load of over $US5bn.

Nielsen shares rose more than 30 per cent on Monday to $US22.85 a share after The Wall Street Journal revealed the talks.

For years, Nielsen has been synonymous with measuring US TV ratings, which provide audience estimates that networks use to sell commercial time and reassure advertisers they got what they paid for. But its hold has been loosening as streaming gains steam and traditional broadcast and cable TV lose viewers. While the New York-based company has introduced metrics for streaming in recent years, it is one of many players in that field.

Nielsen’s shares haven’t performed well as a result. Closing Friday at $US17.51, they are down from a high of more than $US55 in 2016. They had been on a downward trend for several years when the pandemic’s arrival in early 2020 caused them to plummet. Though they have regained some ground, they are just below where they were before Covid-19.

Elliott has owned a stake in Niel­sen since 2018, when it called for the company to explore a sale. The following year, Nielsen said it would spin off part of its business to create two separate public companies: Global Connect, a market-analytics operation that measures retail and consumer behaviour, and the core media business.

In April 2020, Elliott entered into a settlement agreement with Nielsen in which the company agreed to add a director and form a finance committee on the board that would oversee strategic plans including the separation. Elliott had a 13 per cent economic interest in Nielsen at the time.

Global Connect was sold last year to private equity firm Advent International for nearly $US3bn and is now known as NielsenIQ.

Elliott has been increasingly active in private equity, with its Evergreen Coast Capital arm in January agreeing along with a partner to buy cloud-computing company Citrix Systems for $US16.5bn, including debt. It was the latest in a recent string of big leveraged buyouts.

Nielsen was previously acquired in 2006 by a group of private equity firms that included Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR and Thomas H. Lee Partners. It went public again in 2011.

Should a deal be completed, it would come as merger volume overall has slowed as a result of market volatility and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Global merger activity is down roughly 30 per cent this year.

The Wall Street Journal