Informants have shared that Rao is in the exit lane for H1 2026 as Elliot prep their next divestment.
10 replies (most recent on top)
interesting theories on KR, I just made the exit thing up to see what would happen...
It should be clear to anyone who interacted with him that Rao was a yes-man. He was made CEO because he'd do whatever Elliot or McKinsey told him to do, no matter how ill-advised. Meanwhile real leaders like Mainak and Srini were fired for trying to stand up to the id--t consultants.
The meeting that never happened: Story time. I first came across this slimey dude, Rao, in the halls of the NY office circa 2015 ish, where I had been a long time successful but ridiculously underpaid and undervalued client facing rep for well over a decade. By this time most of my piers and managers from the "old" days were gone...victims of prior cost cutting measures/reductions over the years from the Calhoun era so I was one of a few left that had a certain area of expertise specifically related to a somewhat niche product/service we sold to the market, however very profitable no less. I was "the person" you spoke to if you were new or needed advice on how to "make a sale" to land a new client. So when that greasy worm, Rao, suddenly showed up on the scene out of nowhere to head several depts (he had no prior experience in the traditional nielsen ratings biz), I was "summoned" by his admin to give him an overview/presentation. But the thing was, the prior few years it was becoming clear that my "services" were less and less appreciated as newbies and mgrs from other parts of the company, all grossly over paid compared to myself, were trying to bogart my little piece of the Nielsen pie that I helped build into a significant rev stream for Rao's "new" division that he inherited. So after being told "no raise" and certaingly no recalibration of my compenstation earlier in that year, I told the mutt's admin to "find someone more capable and higher up the food chain" to present to Rao...as I likely am not qualified to sit with such an "esteemed leader" at Nielsen. Lol. Needless to say, my assumption is my response did not go over well!! Though I did not get a response back from his admin, I was "let go" about a year later. Lol. Best day of my career to be honest. Happy days ever since.
I do hope he is shown the door!
I also hope that their next IPO fails and their stock crashes!!
KARMA is real!
@ad there is no coming back - only hope is an IPO to offload the 100 year old brand name on the fools.
@ae yes PN groomed to replace him to push a National clients-first agenda more visibly. Big changes too coming to CX and Sales with one voluntary departure (someone got bumped off the EC) and one not so much as he needs to put his team in place to control the conversions.
Is polymarket taking bets if IPO is worse than NIQ stock offering? NIQ is down 20% from it's initial offering price.
@a1 it will be a managed exit/ new opportunities, with no Board seat but with equity in tact. A strategic review will (most likely) appoint two roles - one internal step up the the hire last month plus a CTrO from Elliot at 'Exco' level. This will be in place by Q3 2026 ahead of the resultant SR leading to IPO..
Hasker rumored to take board seat/chair
heard it hear first
Sounds like good news but the reality is the damage inflicted on Nielsen is going to be difficult to unwind. In fact, its probably irreparable. Regardless, Rao will probably sit on the board in the end so wont go too far.
Do tell more, please.