• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 14, 2022

Nielsen's share price surged in trading Monday, following a Wall Street Journal report that a consortium of private-equity firms is in advanced talks to acquire the media research firm.

Shares rose nearly 44% since the trading day began, but trading was halted several times during early afternoon due to the volatility.

At presstime, Nielsen's share price climbed to $24.73, approaching its 52-week high of $28.42, and reaching a market capitalization of nearly $9 billion.

According to the report, the private equity consortium is weighing a bid of $15 billion, including debt, to take Nielsen private again.

The news comes as Nielsen faces an unprecedented array of alternative new ad marketplace "currencies," and as it's in the process of rebooting its own core ratings methodology from its historic panel-based samples to a Big Data solution for measurement cross-media viewing.