VNU Confirms European Commission Investigation of Certain ACNielsen Offices in Europe

Business Wire, April 22, 2005

HAARLEM, Netherlands -- VNU (EURONEXT:VNU), a leading global information and media company, confirmed that in early March one of its offices and five of its subsidiary ACNielsen Company's offices in Europe were visited by officials of the European Commission, Directorate General for Competition with requests for information. Based on a complaint by ACNielsen competitor Information Resources, Inc. ("IRI"), the Commission sought documents concerning ACNielsen's contracting and pricing practices in Europe. VNU is cooperating fully with the Commission. VNU is confident that its practices fully comply with European law.

IRI's United States antitrust lawsuit against ACNielsen was dismissed in February 2005 for failure of proof by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

VNU

VNU is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media measurement and information (Nielsen Media Research) and business information (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing, Intermediair).

VNU is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. The company employs 36,000 people.

Total revenues amounted to EUR 3.8 billion in 2004. VNU is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam (ASE: VNU) stock exchange.

For more information, please visit the VNU website at www.vnu.com