The move reflects the growing importance the US market has on the company's revenues and the shifting attitude of the US as the central marketplace for media research.
All of the VNU executive board members will work out of the New York office from the second half of 2005.
Five people including Rob Ruijter, the proposed replacement for current chief financial officer Frans Cremers, will join chairman and chief executive Rob van den Bergh in the US.
The relocation is expected to lead to the loss of 50 out of 107 jobs at the Haarlem headquarters.
Around 20 of these are corporate or controlling positions and 20 other jobs are to be scrapped with the outsourcing of a number of head-office activities following the completion of certain financial projects.
A VNU spokesman said: "The aim of the move is to make communication between the board easier and although it seems extreme, only 20 of the 40 jobs made redundant are directly related to the New York relocation."
The majority of VNU's operations are now managed from New York, while the US is a huge and important market for the firm's key media measurement and marketing information businesses, ACNielsen and Nielsen Media Research.
VNU is a global information and media company, operating in more than 100 countries, with leading market positions and recognised brands in marketing information through ACNielsen and media measurement and information through Nielsen Media Research. Its business information publishing arm includes Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Computing and Intermediair.
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