Nielsen announced it will enact a massive round of layoffs to reduce its global workforce by about 9%. The measurement giant’s second reduction in force this year under its new private equity owners began Wednesday for employees being impacted in the U.S. According to a Nielsen spokesperson, the RIF is intended to “bring costs in line with our revenues and to ensure the company's financial strength for the future. We will continue to prioritize areas that will drive innovation and the future of cross-media measurement,” the spokesperson added.
According to unsubstantiated reports, employees across numerous departments were impacted, including Product, Sales, Insights, Engineering, Ad-Intel, and Panel Management. An unconfirmed 30 employees who work in radio and TV were let go. Untouched by the RIF, so far, is Nielsen’s U.S. Field Service Team, the people that knock on potential panelists’ doors as part of sample recruitment efforts.
This marks the second significant reduction in force since Nielsen was acquired by Evergreen Coast Capital and Brookfield Business Partners, along with other equity partners for $16 billion in October 2022.
Nielsen declined to disclose the number of people being let go or the current size of its workforce, which it no longer reports publicly since going private last year. As of Dec. 31, 2021, the date of its last 10K filing, it employed 15,000 people worldwide, including 6,200 employees in the U.S. However, the January cutbacks reduced that number and the layoffs that begin today will downsize the company even further.
The U.S. cuts were expected to take most of Wednesday to enact.
January’s sweeping RIF, which was said to involve hundreds of people, focused on the upper management executive level and included half of Nielsen Audio’s senior managers. The new round is believed to be larger in scope and to impact more rank and file positions.
As with the earlier round of layoffs, Nielsen says it is offering severance pay, outplacement services, and health insurance to make the transition as smooth as possible.