Nielsen Makes Deal with Major Shareholder

Nielsen has announced information sharing and 'cooperation' agreements with one of its largest shareholders, hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation, which now owns a 13% stake in the group. It will also set up a Finance Committee and add IPG exec Jonathan Miller to its Board.

Elliott bought an initial 8.4% stake in Nielsen Holdings in 2018, and pushed for a sale of the company. Nielsen then began a strategic review, which was completed last November. As a result the firm is to split into two independent publicly traded companies: Nielsen Global Media and Nielsen Global Connect.

The new agreements will allow Elliot to engage with members of Nielsen's senior management team and Board. In addition, Nielsen's new Finance Committee will oversee the group's strategic, capital and financial plans, including the separation of the Global Connect business and the company's go-forward strategy.

Elliott Partner Jesse Cohn commented: 'Elliott believes that Nielsen is significantly undervalued, and we have increased our economic stake in the company to 13% given our conviction in the value opportunity. We believe that the addition of Jon and the formation of a Finance Committee represent critical steps toward unlocking the value-creation potential that we believe exists at Nielsen'.

Miller (pictured) will join the Board in June after a 30-year career in the digital media industry. He is currently CEO of IPG's digital media investment company Integrated Media Co., and a Senior Advisor at venture capital investment fund Advancit Capital. Prior to this he was a partner at Advancit; Chief Digital Offices of New Corporation and Chairman and CEO of its digital media group.

Nielsen, which yesterday announced a 0.3% drop in first quarter revenues to $1.56 billion, and a net loss of $18m, is online at www.nielsen.com .