Rumors that Nielsen is looking to unload its business publishing arm – which includes The Hollywood Reporter and Mediaweek – is today being met with news that Reed Elsevier, owner of LexisNexis, might be selling off its business publishing unit.

The Reed Business Information unit, headed by Gerard van de Aast, includes magazines like New Scientist, trades like Broadcasting & Cable, Publishers Weekly, and, oh, a little publication called Variety — all of which might be on the auction block as part of a Reed Elsevier "restructuring." Which is a fancy way of saying that they're buying ChoicePoint, a risk-management analytics company, for $4 billion … and they need to find the cash from somewhere. (Haven't you heard the credit market is in shambles?)

What no major press outlet has done with the news, however, is connect the dots that the two trades responsible for sucking up to studios could both be on their way to changing hands.

For what it's worth, Nielsen's chief executive, David Calhoun, publicly denies rumors that he's looking to sell off the company's publishing arm, formerly VNU Business Media (home to lawsuits involving sex toys). But he's done little to keep those rumors from escaping the company.

Reed Elsevier's chief, Crispin Davis, isn't so oblique; he's stated outright the company's plans to sell of RBI, but maintain its trade show business. (Nielsen is said to want to sell off its trade show operations.) Nevermind that RBI currently supplies 60 percent of its parent company's revenues.

So what does the possibility of both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety going up for sale mean to the industry? If new Los Angeles Times owner Sam Zell were smart, and a smidge less concerned with the bottom line, he'd let the poaching begin.