Why Nielsen bailed

It's not much of a mystery why it sold The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Billboard, etc. and killed off E&P and Kirkus - just check Nielsen's most recent quarterly report. For the three months ended Sept. 30, the Business Media unit, which was made up of those titles, as well as a trade show operation, posted an operating loss of $168 million, compared with a profit of $27 million a year earlier. Revenues were $82 million, down from $115 million a year earlier. Publications were down 33 percent. Greg Farrar, president of Nielsen Business Media, put on the predictable positive spin in a memo:

This move will allow us to strengthen investment in our core businesses - those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth - and ensure our long-term success. We remain committed to building our trade show group and affiliated brands. These assets continue to be a key part of The Nielsen Company's overall portfolio and we strongly believe they are positioned to grow as the economy recovers. In addition, we'll continue to assess the strategic fit of our remaining portfolio of publications.

A Nov. 12 conference call on those earnings results telegraphed today's news. When CFO Brian West was asked about rumors of certain publications being let go, he said "For assets that don't hit the mark, we're always looking to work them out of the portfolio." Translation: Start packing.