• The Wall Street Journal (by subscription), Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:02 AM

In non-Google or YouTube related news, VNU, the owner of Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Nielsen's family of media-research companies, yesterday bought out the remaining stake in Internet market research firm NetRatings, Inc. The Dutch holding company already owns 60.5 percent of the New York-based firm, which monitors Internet traffic under the combined brand Nielsen/NetRatings. VNU offered to pay $16 per share to acquire the minority interest of NetRatings, which has about 36 million shares outstanding. VNU is owned by a group of private-equity investors, including Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Shares of NetRatings rose 16 percent on the news to $16.91 in 4 p.m. composite trading. It's unclear whether the full acquisition of NetRatings will affect the Internet media company's brand name.

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