Nielsen Columbia Cuts - More Details

Nielsen plans to lay off around 333 workers at the Columbia, Maryland site which formed the headquarters of Arbitron, according to reports. Now renamed Nielsen Audio, the division employs around 1,000 workers across the US, a majority based in the Columbia site.

According to www.baltimoresun.com , Arbitron employed nearly 1,000 full-time workers in the US at the time of the merger announcement last December, with 640 full-time employees and an additional 220 part-time workers based in the Columbia complex of offices. On Friday, DRNO announced that an unconfirmed number of staff were being made redundant, with reports suggesting more than 500 mainly Arbitron staff would go.

Following the merger announcement, Nielsen had made no secret of the fact it expected to realise significant synergies with cuts to head office and other staff at the acquired firm. A statement said: 'As part of the integration of Nielsen Audio, Nielsen is implementing changes across the company to enhance growth and to align our resources to meet and exceed client needs. These changes will improve productivity and innovation for the benefit of our organization, clients and shareholders.'

Arbitron moved its corporate headquarters to the Maryland location to join its research and engineering operations in March 2009, from a site New York City, which has continued as a sales office.

The Baltimore Sun says the panel relations division is among those facing cuts, which will begin on January 14th 2014 and will be staggered, with the possibility of 'more layoffs to follow'.

Home page: www.nielsen.com .