SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LiveRamp™, an
Acxiom® company (NASDAQ: ACXM) and leading provider of
omnichannel identity resolution, today announced that it has
entered into definitive purchase agreements to acquire Arbor and
Circulate, two companies at the forefront of helping publishers
connect people-based data to the marketing ecosystem, for total
cash consideration of approximately $140
million. In addition, the Company will issue $50 million of Acxiom stock awards replacing
unvested equity.
The acquisitions increase the scale of LiveRamp's omnichannel
identity graph and network. The combined strength of LiveRamp,
Arbor and Circulate enable brands to expand people-based marketing
beyond Google and Facebook, while allowing publishers to better
support marketer's people-based initiatives.
"The ability to execute people-based marketing at scale across
mobile and online channels is important for us," said Vitaly Tsivin, Senior Vice President of Business
Intelligence at AMC Networks, "and the more consumers we can reach
in digital channels the better. We're excited about this
improvement to LiveRamp's identity resolution platform."
"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 and thereby deliver more value to our clients and
partners," said Travis May,
President and General Manager at LiveRamp. "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."
In their October, 2016 report "The Strategic Role of Identity
Resolution," Forrester Research highlighted this capability as a
foundational element of any marketing cloud, noting that it was
critical for marketers to recognize consumers in digital channels
in order to apply context to marketing. The report notes that, "For
customer-obsessed marketers, customer recognition in single
channels isn't enough; identity resolution spans every interaction
and provides a broad view of the customer, creating the strategic
foundation for cross-channel marketing."
Arbor and Circulate double LiveRamp's publisher partnerships to
more than 450 and bring strong "mobile-first" technology,
international reach, and impressive teams to LiveRamp.
"We saw this as a great opportunity to accelerate adoption and
the value we deliver," said David
Yaffe, CEO of Arbor. "With IdentityLink, we'll be able to
empower our publishers with new tools, insights and relationships
that build on our current industry-leading monetization
platform."
Ari Jacoby, CEO of Circulate,
noted "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."
"The Arbor and Circulate teams bring a wealth of experience to
LiveRamp, and it's great to have them on board," added May. "These
acquisitions will allow us to both increase the value we provide to
marketers—we're particularly excited Arbor and Circulate are
'mobile first' companies that will increase our people-based reach
in this key medium—and accelerate our ability to extend our
identity resolution platform across the marketing ecosystem with
the launch of IdentityLink for publishers early next year."
Financial Impact
The addition of Arbor and Circulate extends LiveRamp's
leadership in identity resolution and provides meaningful scale to
drive growth and value for Acxiom's shareholders. In fiscal 2017,
Arbor and Circulate are expected to contribute approximately
$5 million in revenue and be neutral
to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share. In addition, Acxiom expects
the transactions to be dilutive by $0.11 to GAAP diluted earnings per share due to
higher non-cash compensation and estimated purchased intangible
asset amortization. In fiscal 2018, Acxiom expects the transactions
to be accretive to both EBITDA and non-GAAP diluted earnings per
share.
Fiscal 2017 Guidance Update
Acxiom's non-GAAP guidance excludes the impact of non-cash
compensation, estimated purchased intangible asset amortization,
restructuring charges and separation and transformation costs.
For fiscal 2017, Acxiom now expects to report:
- Revenue in the range of $865 million to
$875 million
- GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately $0.01
- Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately
$0.60
Conference Call
Acxiom will hold a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT today to further discuss the
transaction. The conference call will be webcast live on the
Company's website investors.acxiom.com and will be available for
replay. The conference call is also accessible via telephone by
dialing 877-710-0217 or 408-427-3845 for international callers and
using Conference ID code 20744053.
A slide presentation will be referenced during the call and can
be accessed here.
About LiveRamp
LiveRamp offers brands and the companies they work with identity
resolution that is integrated throughout the digital ecosystem, and
provides the foundation for omnichannel marketing. Our services
transform the technology platforms used by our clients into
people-based marketing channels that improve the relevancy of
marketing, and ultimately allow consumers to better connect with
the brands and products they love. LiveRamp is an Acxiom company,
delivering privacy-safe solutions to market and honoring the best
practices of leading associations including the Digital Advertising
Alliance's (DAA) ICON and App Choices programs. For more
information, visit www.liveramp.com.
About Acxiom
Acxiom provides the data foundation for the world's best
marketers. We enable people-based marketing everywhere through a
simple, open approach to connecting systems and data that drives
seamless customer experiences and higher ROI. A leader in identity
and the ethical use of data for more than 45 years, Acxiom helps
thousands of clients and partners around the globe work together to
create a world where all marketing is relevant. For more
information, visit www.acxiom.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements including,
without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated reach of
the marketing platform, future availability of services and
capabilities, timing and benefits and the economic and accounting
impacts, timing and benefits associated with the acquisitions of
Arbor and Circulate by Acxiom. The following are factors, among
others, that could cause actual results to differ materially from
these forward-looking statements: the likelihood and timing the
transactions will close; the ability to realize the benefits of the
transactions at the expected times or at all; the ability of the
acquired businesses to retain existing business relationships and
key employees; and other risks and uncertainties, including those
detailed from time to time in our current and periodic reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our
current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and
annual reports on Form 10-K, particularly the discussion under the
caption "Item 1A. RISK FACTORS" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended March 31, 2016,
which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
May 27, 2016.
With respect to the provision of products or services outside
our primary base of operations in the
United States, all of the above factors apply, along with
the difficulty of doing business in numerous sovereign
jurisdictions due to differences in scale, competition, culture,
laws and regulations.
We undertake no obligation to update the information contained
in this press release or any other forward-looking statement.
Acxiom
Lauren Dillard, 650-372-2242
Investor Relations
investor.relations@acxiom.com
Meggan Powers, 650-455-7532C
Corporate Communications
meggan.powers@acxiom.com
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SOURCE LiveRamp