Asset Swap for Nielsen and WPP

NEW YORK/LONDON, November 12: Nielsen will take full control of
AGBNielsen Media Research (AGBNMR), the international audience data research
firm in which it currently owns a 50-percent stake, through an asset-swap
agreement with WPP.

In return, Nielsen will transfer to WPP: SRDS, a provider of media
rates and data to the advertising industry; PERQ/HCI, which provides
media-planning services in the healthcare field; and its 11-percent share in
IBOPE PDM, IBOPE LA and IMI.Com, which are part of the IBOPE Group, a Latin
American media, market and opinion research firm. This stake adds to WPP's
31-percent interest in IBOPE.

The asset swap follows WPP's deal to acquire TNS, resulting in its
need to dispose of TNS's competitor, AGBNielsen.

"In an increasingly digital world, it is essential for
Nielsen to strengthen its global market position," said David Calhoun,
Nielsen's chairman and CEO. "As a fully integrated part of our company,
AGBNMR will be an important part of our portfolio and better positioned to
offer high-quality measurement for its clients. We are confident that our
AGBNMR colleagues and their clients will be an important asset to The Nielsen
Company and we look forward to working with them more closely. At the same
time, we appreciate the value that SRDS and PERC/HCI have created for Nielsen
and we are confident our colleagues in those businesses will continue to
deliver important insights for clients as part of [WPP's] Kantar Group."

Eric Salama, the CEO of Kantar, said, "The decision to
dispose of our 50-percent stake in AGBNielsen Media Research was a difficult
one. However, the strength and breadth of the TNS offer and the quality of the
management team provide us with a unique opportunity to develop Kantar Group's
integrated media measurement and insight capability, in which we and our
clients believe so strongly. At the same time, it strengthens an already
powerful relationship with IBOPE, for whom we have considerable respect and, at
the same time, allows us to strengthen our healthcare offer through PERQ/HCI
and develop a new stream of business through SRDS."

—By Mansha Daswani