ACNielsen Agrees to Acquire Retail Measurement Business of Venezuelan Market Leader Datos Information Resources

Renamed ACNielsen de Venezuela S.A., Business Will Further Expand
ACNielsen’s Offerings in Important Latin American Growth Market

7 April 2006, New York, NY, USA, ACNielsen, a VNU business and the world’s leading provider of consumer and marketplace intelligence, today announced that it has agreed to acquire 100% of the retail measurement business unit of Datos Information Resources, the leader in the Venezuelan marketing information industry.

By acquiring this business unit, the leader in the important and growing Venezuelan market (Latin America’s fourth largest economy), ACNielsen will strengthen its presence in Latin America, extend its industry-leading global coverage of retail product sales, and be able to enhance local client offerings in Venezuela. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Joseph Saade will continue to lead the former Retail Tracking business as country manager of the newly formed ACNielsen de Venezuela S.A. and report to Arturo García Castro, president of ACNielsen Latin America, based in Buenos Aires. Edmonde Saade, one of the founders of Datos, will serve as Chairman of the Board of ACNielsen de Venezuela S.A. The Saade family brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about the Venezuelan market research industry to ACNielsen. The company will be based in Caracas, with offices nationwide, and will employ 300 people. ACNielsen will immediately begin converting the local business to the ACNielsen business model and take additional steps to upgrade and harmonize the client offerings of ACNielsen de Venezuela S.A. with those offered throughout the region.

“Latin America is a growth market for VNU, ACNielsen and our clients,” noted Steve Schmidt, president and CEO of ACNielsen and VNU Marketing Information. “We see our entrance into the Venezuelan retail measurement services sector as an important step in our strategy of expanding our retail coverage in both geographic markets and new retail channels. The goal is to help our clients better understand their consumers and markets and make decisions that fuel profitable growth.”

The existing Datos “ad hoc” or “customized research” business unit will not be part of the ACNielsen acquisition, and will become an independent business fully owned by the Saade family. With the completion of this acquisition, Information Resources Inc. (IRI) no longer will have a stake in the Venezuelan retail measurement or ad hoc businesses of the former Datos.

ACNielsen also recently announced that it will begin tracking retail sales in Paraguay and will launch an ACNielsen business in the Dominican Republic during 2006. ACNielsen also took 100% ownership of its business in Chile during 2005.

About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world’s leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen’s market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.

Contact Information

Bruce Lee

Press Contact

ACNielsen

Contact via E-mail