It’s been two weeks since Sharon Waxman broke the story about Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Editor & Publisher and other Nielsen trade titles being packaged for a sale.
The other day, Editor & Publisher’s Editor, Greg Mitchell, had this inside the bubble POV to share:
Now, Ad Age is adding a bit more depth to the story.
The entity bidding for Nielsen’s titles is a private-equity group, Pluribus Capital Management, which includes James Finkelstein, CEO of News Communications, former Wired publisher Matthew Doull (also on News Communication’s board) and former Hearst International publisher George Green. Lachlan Murdoch, who quit News Corp. in 2005 and runs his own private-investment group Illyria, is also an investor in the proposed deal.
Nielsen is said to want $70 million for all its titles, but that price might be tough to get given the pace of revenue declines at the unit. Including the publications, websites and trade shows, revenue was down nearly 30% to $82 million in the third quarter of 2009 from a year ago.
