VNU BPL Appoints John Barnes as Deputy Managing Director; Takes Charge of All Publishing Portfolios and Assumes Leading Management Role in UK

VNU Business Publications Ltd, the London-basedpublishing arm of VNU Business Media Europe (BME), has reorganised itsmanagement structure with the appointment of John Barnes as DeputyManaging Director. From 1st July 2006 Barnes will be responsible forall of the company's publishing portfolios - which include leadingbrands in professional IT, consumer technology and business & finance.Barnes will also be charged with the successful implementation of thecompany's ongoing transformation into a total media publisher and willbe taking on additional responsibility for wider general managementissues alongside current UK Managing Director, and European CEO, RuudBakker.

Barnes has been working in publishing for 21 years, spending morethan half of his career at VNU. Starting out in editorial heprogressed via a series of editorial management and publishing rolesto Managing Director of VNU Business Online UK and a European VNUnetmanagement team member. During his career at VNU, Barnes has also setup and run the European Labs, VNUnet and most recently the VNU On AirStudios, developing VNU products on Internet, PDA, email, ebook and inthe last 12 months audio and video.

Barnes has also held a European role as a Media Strategy Directorat VNU BME, working to define, develop and implement the company'scross-media strategy across seven countries Since November 2002 he hasheaded up the Business Technology Group in the UK which is responsiblefor publishing market-leading print and online titles includingComputing, IT Week and CRN. For these achievements he was honouredwith the first VNU Chairman's Personal Award in 2004 and cited foroutstanding leadership and pioneering new ways of doing business.

Ruud Bakker, CEO of VNU Business Media Europe, said: "Thisappointment is a recognition of John's proven track record as asuccessful publisher across the range of media formats VNU publishesand his leadership of the process of transforming our business into asuccessful multi-channel content publishing company. We are looking toa future where online publishing will grow hugely in importance as acontent delivery platform and as a key driver for the business. John'sin-depth understanding of how this will shape our business strategywill make a very positive contribution to VNU's success in the UKgoing forward."

Changes to the structure of VNU's management team were alsoannounced: Kumaran Ramanathan, Publishing Director of the Business &Finance Group, and Duncan Tickell, Publishing Director, PersonalTechnology Group, will now report to Barnes who will also maintainresponsibility for the Business Technology Portfolio. Current OnlineDirector Robert van Loon will continue to have responsibility for UKonline and European online recruitment activities, reporting to UK MDand CEO Ruud Bakker. Barnes and van Loon will work together withBakker to accelerate the opportunities, growth and the pace oftransforming VNU into a leading publisher across multiple platforms.

John Barnes, Deputy Managing Director commented: "I subscribefirmly to the view that the business of publishing should not be ahostage to the past nor should it be a slave to the future - at VNU wefully embrace new opportunities created by the Internet and web 2.0while recognising that print still has a central role to play in ourbusiness. The company is now extremely well placed to capitalise onits market leading position both in print and online and I am excitedabout this challenge in the UK."

"With John responsible for the transformation of our UK portfoliosand brands and Robert responsible for the development of our UK onlineand European online recruitment properties, our plans for UK andEuropean online growth will accelerate faster," said Bakker.

About VNU Business Publications Ltd. (http://marketing.vnu.co.uk)

VNU Business Publications Ltd. is a leading UK business tobusiness and consumer publisher. It specialises in three main areas,professional IT, consumer technology and business & finance. VNUpublishes 20 cross media brands including Computing, IT Week, CRN,Computeractive, Personal Computer World, Accountancy Age, FinancialDirector and VNUnet.com. In January VNU acquired The Inquirer makingthe VNU Network the largest online technology network in the UKattracting more than 4 million users per month.

VNU Business Publications is part of VNU Business Media Europe(http://www.vnubme.com) owned by VNU (PINK SHEETS:VNUVY)(Amsterdam:VNUA) the global information and media company active inmore than 100 countries (http://www.vnu.com).

VNU BME has a leading online position in the IT publishingindustry in Europe via its network of VNUnet sites that reach over 10million unique users per month. VNUnet is a one-stop-shop to gatherinformation and news about trends, products and software in the ITworld, including solid analysis from VNU's leading print brands suchas Computing, Computable and Computeractive.