LiveRamp Buys 'Mobile First' Data Firms

Acxiom subsidiary LiveRamp has announced agreements to acquire Arbor and Circulate, two companies working with people-based data to help clients' marketing, for a total of around $140m in cash and $50m in Acxiom stock.

The buys will help LiveRamp to scale up its 'omnichannel marketing' offer, doubling its total publisher partnerships to more than 450, and will add talent, geographical base and 'mobile-first' technology. They are only expected to contribute $5m in revenue in 2017.

Travis May, President and General Manager at LiveRamp, comments: 'This is a huge win for the LiveRamp ecosystem and the biggest set of actions we could have taken to increase the value of our network... These acquisitions both increase the deterministic reach we can provide marketers and gives us the ability to help all publishers tap into people-based marketing budgets'. He adds: 'we're particularly excited Arbor and Circulate are 'mobile first' companies that will increase our people-based reach in this key medium'.

Arbor CEO David Yaffe says LiveRamp's IdentityLink platform will allow the company 'to empower our publishers with new tools, insights and relationships that build on our current industry-leading monetization platform'. Circulate Chief Exec Ari Jacoby comments: 'Our publishers provide a global footprint when it comes to identity-based data. As part of LiveRamp, we can help them better monetize that data working with marketers who want to reach global audiences, and accelerate LiveRamp's global expansion'.

Web site: www.liveramp.com .