Tribune Media is unloading its digital and data business to Nielsen for $560 million in cash.
The digital unit, which consists entirely of Gracenote--a media company that Tribune Media bought from Sony in 2014 for $170 million--provides music, video and sports content to brands like Apple, Amazon and Tesla.
The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
"We are extremely proud to have grown our Digital and Data business into a vibrant global enterprise, with talented and creative people who deliver outstanding service to blue-chip clients around the world," Peter Liguori, Tribune Media's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "From a strategic standpoint, however, 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."
Gracenote, based in Emeryville, Calif., launched in 1998 as a CD metadata provider and today is "one of the largest entertainment data companies in the world," according to Tribune Media. Gracenote provides media companies with descriptions for songs, TV shows and movies. Companies like Comcast and DirecTV use Gracenote to display TV schedules and listings in their program guides, and Apple and Spotify use Gracenote data to power their music recommendation engines. Its data is also inside vehicle infotainment systems, working in 85 million cars from Tesla, to Ford, to BMW.
Tribune Media, which is moving from the iconic Tribune Tower in 2017 to the Illinois Center across the street, said it expects to receive approximately $500 million in after-tax proceeds from the transaction, which will be used to repay debt and reinvested in the business, the company said.
"Over the last three years, under Tribune's ownership, we've transformed Gracenote into a global data powerhouse and Nielsen's acquisition ushers in an exciting new chapter for our people, products and customers," added John Batter, Gracenote's chief executive officer. "Nielsen is a natural home for Gracenote."
