Market research merger
Another service area gets concentrated, this time in the area of market research powerhouses. UK-based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and Germany-based GfK have announced a merger of equals, based on a stock swap. The deal will establish the world's #2 market research firm with the name Gfk-TNS, with a combined income of $3.9 billion in 2007 and coverage of 111 countries worldwide.
The largest market research firm is Dutch-based Nielsen Company, which formerly had the company name VNU, which it changed in 2007. Nielsen had revenue of $4.7 billion last year, so the combined company would be nipping at its heels.
The #2 international advertising and publicity firm WPP (based in the UK) had offered several hostile bids earlier this year to buy TNS for around $1.9 billion, but was refused. There is talk that cash-rich WPP may try to buy the combined GfK-TNS. WPP already has a smaller market research division, called Kantar.
This is yet another case of service companies growing to build a worldwide reach to serve global clients and to establish a comfortable an unchallengeable second place in their niche.
5:31:11 PM 
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