NPD Venture Buys Tracking Firm / Acquisition bolsters LI company's position in market data field
NPD Group confirmed Friday that its market-tracking joint
venture, NPD Intelect, has acquired the point-of-sale tracking division of
research firm PC Data for an undisclosed amount.
Sixty PC Data employees will go to work for NPD Intelect, which is a joint
venture of NPD and GfK AG, a research concern based in Germany, said NPD
spokeswoman Leslie Singer. She didn't say whether some or all would move to
facilities near NPD's Port Washington headquarters or remain in Reston, Va.,
where PC Data is based.
Meanwhile Friday, Tod Johnson, chief executive officer of NPD as well as
Manhattan-based Jupiter Media Metrix, announced that he is stepping down from
Jupiter Media Metrix. Stock "market conditions make it increasingly difficult
for me to remain as the CEO of two companies," Johnson said in a statement.
NPD created Media Metrix in 1995. Media Metrix separated in 1997 and went
public in 1999. Then Jupiter bought Media Metrix in 2000. Johnson served as CEO
of the merged Jupiter Media Metrix since then, but had never given up his post
as head of NPD.
Singer said Friday that the acquisition by NPD of PC Data supplements NPD's
position in the online sales-tracking industry as well as its presence in the
computer software field.
NPD Intelect gathers regular information about the sale of products in a
range of consumer fields, from food to clothing. NPD sells that information to
manufacturers and others interested in tracking sales trends. Prior to the PC
Data buyout, NPD Intelect tracked only video game and interactive entertainment.
The deal, first reported in Newsday two weeks ago, "ensures the
continuation of services for our existing clients," said Nancy Goldberg, chief
executive of PC Data.
PC Data has been operating under the weight of accumulated debt after the
costly launch of an online division two years ago. The sale to NPD did not
include that division, which reportedly is being eyed by NetValue, a French
research firm.