=Nielsen (NLSN): Blackstone (BX) drops out of the bidding process

The New York Post reported that Blackstone dropped out of the bidding process to acquire Nielsen.

Separately, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, which began sniffing around the company late last year, is also losing interest, a source close to the situation said.

Blackstone, which is controlled by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, and Apollo were the strongest suitors for Nielsen, raising questions about whether it will be sold.

Part of the problem is that Nielsen’s $26.63 share stock price values the company at roughly $9.4 billion. But it’s debt of roughly $8 billion raises the cost to upward of $17 billion.

Blackstone — whose managing director, David Calhoun, ran Nielsen between 2006 and 2013 — didn’t like the numbers, which come at a time when Nielsen is struggling to raise prices for its research reports on consumer product trends.

Historically, the ratings firm was able to raise prices for those reports by roughly 5 percent a year, a research analyst said. But its consumer report clients, which include Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola, are now balking at price increases given their own financial difficulties, this person said.

Nielsen has been refashioning its consumer research business so it will be cheaper to operate, which will lead to lower rates, much like its rival IRI, the analyst said.

Research firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey recently lowered its projection for the company’s future cash flow by 14 percent from $700 million to $604 million.