Tribune Media to sell Gracenote to Nielsen for $560 million
Tribune Media Co. has agreed to sell Gracenote, its digital entertainment and data business, to Nielsen Co. for $560 million.
Emeryville, Calif.-based Gracenote provides video, music and sports databases to power TV program guides, music search engines and other digital entertainment platforms. Tribune Media acquired Gracenote from Sony of America for $170 million in February 2014. The growing entertainment data company started out by providing information on music tracks for Apple’s iTunes.
Nielsen, the New York marketing research firm, is perhaps best known for providing TV ratings.
“Nielsen is a natural home for Gracenote,” John Batter, Gracenote’s chief executive, said in a news release. “Both companies have entertainment data at their core and have spent years delivering services to the world’s top media brands.”
The deal, announced Tuesday, will net Chicago-based Tribune Media $500 million in after-tax proceeds and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
It is the latest step in Tribune Media’s process of selling off assets beyond its core broadcast holdings.
“We are pleased to be streamlining our company so that we can focus even more intently on seizing future opportunities for our local television and entertainment business,” Peter Liguori, Tribune Media’s president and chief executive, said in the news release.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to repay existing debt. Tribune Media also said it would pay a special $500-million dividend to shareholders during the first quarter.
In September, Tribune Media sold Tribune Tower to CIM Group for $240 million. The Los Angeles-based developer plans to transform the historic Chicago property into a mixed-use redevelopment.
Tribune Media spun off its publishing division — including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other daily newspapers — in August 2014, retaining the broadcasting business and real estate portfolio.
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