Briefing: Nielsen to purchase all NetRatings shares

Bloomberg News, Reuters, The Associated Press
Published: February 5, 2007

LONDON: Nielsen to purchase all NetRatings shares

Nielsen, the Dutch media company formerly known as VNU, agreed on Monday to buy the shares of NetRatings that it does not already own for $327 million.

Nielsen, which already holds about 60 percent of NetRatings stock, offered $21 a share in cash for NetRatings, which is based in New York. The price is 16 percent higher than the closing price Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares jumped $2.53, or 14 percent, to $20.58 in late trading on Monday.

NetRatings measures visits to Web pages and produces rankings that companies use when placing advertisements. Nielsen, based in the Netherlands, also produces market data in its ACNielsen and Nielsen Media Research Units.$@

Ericsson and Turner agree on mobile project

STOCKHOLM: Ericsson, the Swedish maker of telecommunications equipment, agreed to collaborate with Turner Broadcasting System, the big U.S. producer of news and entertainment, to develop international mobile services.

Turner will provide news and entertainment material like CNN International and programs from the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, while Ericsson will host and deliver the content management technology.

Ericsson said the first services will be introduced in Europe on Feb. 12, bringing a new CNN Mobile service to users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.$@(AP)

First 'cellular book' set to appear this year

MILAN: Telecom Italia is joining with Dutch Polymer Vision to develop and introduce what the companies called the world's first "cellular book" sometime in 2007.

The mobile device will use Polymer Vision's display technology, which allows mobile phones to incorporate a large screen that rolls and is as easy to read as printed paper even in bright sunlight. The device will be introduced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, starting Monday.$@(AP)

TI streamlines phone

LOS ANGELES:Texas Instruments, the world's biggest maker of processors for cellular phones, introduced a single chip that allows cellphones to provide Internet, Bluetooth, and FM radio access.

The chip is designed to reduce manufacturers' costs by two-thirds, said Mike Yonkers, the director of wireless strategy at the company. Texas Instruments previously used two different chips for these functions.$@(Bloomberg)

New niche for Saatchi

LONDON:

The advertising company M&C; Saatchi is starting a niche agency that will focus on companies owned by private equity firms on the theory that they need a quicker branding strategy and would prefer to pay based on returns.

M&C; Saatchi said it had decided to start the agency, which it is calling Accelerator, after two recent successful experiences working with private equity firms.$@(Reuters)

MYCLICK MEDIA, a Hong Kong provider of mobile phone software applications, has raised the amount it is targeting in its initial share sale this year to at least $100 million to expand outside China. On Dec. 7 MyClick said it planned to raise £20 million, or $39 million, by listing on London's AIM market.$@(Bloomberg)

AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES,

agreed to acquire Netli to enhance its products that improve the performance of Internet-based applications. The deal values Netli at about $178 million.$@(Reuters)

TELENOR, the leading Norwegian phone company, will cut prices its domestic customers pay when making mobile calls in other European countries by as much as 50 percent for private clients and 40 percent for corporate customers.$@(Bloomberg)

GLOBE TELECOM, a Philippine mobile phone company, was ordered by that country's regulator not to charge subscribers more for sending mobile phone text messages after a consumer group complained. Globe announced last month that as of last Thursday, it would raise flat text messaging rates by as much as 100 percent.$@(Bloomberg)

MICROSOFT plans to introducing a job search service on its Chinese portal, www.msn.com.cn, this year in an effort to compete against the local leaders in job search: 51job; Zhaopin.com., and ChinaHR.com, which is controlled by Monster Worldwide.$@(Reuters)

BO VESTERDORF, chief of the Court of First Instance, said he hoped to publish a ruling on Microsoft's appeal against the European Commission's antitrust order before leaving office in September.$@(AP)

ALVARION, an Israeli maker of wireless broadband technology, said that the Taiwan company Chunghwa Telecom was using its WiMax equipment to serve subscribers in the mountainous center of the country.

(Bloomberg)

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