Arbitron shareholders give thumbs up to Nielsen buy

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Arbitron and NielsenNielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron, pairing the biggest US TV ratings company with the biggest US radio ratings company, has been given thumbs up by Arbitron shareholders, a not unexpected development. Next stop – regulatory approval, which may prove a little more difficult to come by.


Arbitron said in a statement, “Approximately 98.99 percent of the shares voting at today’s Special Meeting of Stockholders voted in favor of the agreement and plan of merger. These shares represented approximately 77.11 percent of total outstanding shares of Arbitron common stock as of the March 8, 2013 record date for the Special Meeting.”

The company added, “As previously announced on December 18, 2012, Arbitron Inc. and Nielsen Holdings N.V. entered into a definitive agreement for Nielsen to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Arbitron for $48.00 per share in cash.”

RBR-TVBR observation: We believe that the fact that the services of each of these companies can not be performed by the other, at the end of the day, should be enough to get it past the feds.