LiveRamp

LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.
Company type	Public
Industry	Software as a service (SaaS), Data connectivity
Predecessor	Acxiom (marketing services division sold to Interpublic Group)
Founded	2011; 15 years ago (LiveRamp), acquired by Acxiom in 2014
Founder	Travis May, Auren Hoffman (LiveRamp)
Headquarters	San Francisco, United States
Area served	United States, Europe, Australia, Asia
Key people	Scott E. Howe (CEO and president since 2011)
Products	ATS, IdentityLink, Safe Haven, Privacy Manager, Data Marketplace, Data Plus Math, Onboarding
Number of employees	3,380 (2020)
Website	liveramp.com

LiveRamp Holdings, Inc. (widely known as LiveRamp) is an American SaaS enterprise that offers a data connectivity platform with a focus on data onboarding, facilitating the transition of offline data to online environments for marketing applications.

The company emerged from the 2014 acquisition of LiveRamp by Acxiom, a firm established in 1969. Following the separation of Acxiom Marketing Services (AMS) to the global advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group of Companies, the business adopted the LiveRamp brand.

Based in San Francisco, LiveRamp maintains offices throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Its product suite includes ATS, IdentityLink, Safe Haven, and Privacy Manager. In 2020, LiveRamp generated $617 million in revenue and employed roughly 3,380 individuals.

Founding and Initial Development of Acxiom

Acxiom began in 1969 under the name Demographics, Inc., founded by Charles D. Ward in Conway, Arkansas. The company initially concentrated on mailing lists and payroll services. It was renamed Conway Communications Exchange in 1980 and incorporated as CCX Network, Inc. in 1983—the same year it went public. The corporation adopted the Acxiom name in 1988.

Developments in the 1990s

In November 1997, Acxiom expanded its healthcare capabilities by acquiring Buckley Dement, a provider specializing in medical lists and healthcare fulfillment. The following year, in May 1998, it announced a $600 million acquisition of competitor May & Speh.

Activities during the 2000s

In 2003, Wired Magazine criticized Acxiom for only honoring opt-out requests from the Direct Marketing Association. Early in 2004, Acxiom entered the European market through acquiring part of Claritas. The company further broadened its digital offerings by purchasing Digital Impact for $140 million in 2005. That same year, Acxiom was nominated for the Big Brother Awards due to its data brokerage activities.

In 2006, EMC Corporation acquired Acxiom’s information grid software for $30 million but later ceased development after deciding against purchasing additional assets.

On May 16, 2007, Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital agreed to acquire Acxiom for $3 billion in cash, including taking on $756 million in debt; however, this transaction was canceled in October due to unfavorable credit conditions. During this period, Chairman Charles Morgan stepped down. Subsequently, on January 17, 2008, John Meyer—formerly with Alcatel-Lucent—was appointed CEO and president. Later that year, on July 11, Acxiom acquired ChoicePoint’s database marketing solutions division.

Early Years of the 2010s

In 2010, Acxiom expanded into Brazil by acquiring part of GoDigital, a company specializing in direct marketing and data quality services. That October saw the launch of AbiliTec Digital—a web-based platform designed to connect digital identities with traditional name and address data derived from loyalty programs. On July 27, 2011, Scott E. Howe was named CEO and president. In December of the same year, Acxiom divested its background screening unit—Acxiom Information Security Services (AISS)—to Sterling Infosystems. By 2012, Acxiom managed what was considered the world’s largest commercial consumer database. In 2013, the Federal Trade Commission conducted an investigation involving Acxiom and eight other companies concerning their consumer data collection methods.

Acquisition of LiveRamp

On May 14, 2014, Acxiom completed the purchase of LiveRamp, a data onboarding firm established in 2011 by Travis May and Auren Hoffman, for $310 million. LiveRamp specialized in merging CRM and loyalty program information with various other data sources to enhance consumer segmentation accuracy. Following the acquisition, Acxiom maintained LiveRamp as an independent brand under the leadership of May.

In July 2015, Acxiom divested its IT outsourcing segment to Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners, which subsequently rebranded the unit as Ensono. Later that year in December, Acxiom expanded its third-party data capabilities by acquiring Allant’s advanced advertising division based in Boston.

November 2016 saw LiveRamp acquire two identity resolution startups, Arbor and Circulate, for a combined total exceeding $140 million. During this period, LiveRamp also introduced IdentityLink, a tool designed to anonymize data for cross-platform consumer tracking. Earlier in August 2016, Acxiom sold its marketing automation product, Acxiom Impact, to Zeta Interactive (now Zeta Global) for $50 million. The company was also recognized as a leading small technology employer.

By 2017, LiveRamp’s valuation reached around $1.5 billion. In January of that year, Acxiom launched Audience Cloud, a platform facilitating anonymous demographic segmentation. The company moved its headquarters back to Conway, Arkansas in March. In May, LiveRamp partnered with AppNexus and MediaMath to compete with Facebook and Google within the programmatic advertising space.

In February 2018, LiveRamp acquired Pacific Data Partners, a B2B anonymized data aggregator. That same month, Acxiom restructured into two main units: Marketing Solutions and LiveRamp. In May, it broadened its global reach by entering Brazil, the Netherlands, and Italy through the introduction of Global Data Navigator (GDN), a portal offering country-specific data elements. Additionally, in June, Acxiom formed a partnership with consumer research firm GfK MRI.

July 2018 marked Interpublic Group’s (IPG) agreement to purchase Acxiom’s Marketing Solutions division for $2.3 billion; this transaction did not include LiveRamp. After the deal closed in October, Acxiom rebranded itself as LiveRamp with the ticker symbol RAMP while transferring the Acxiom brand along with Marketing Solutions to IPG. Also in July, LiveRamp collaborated with Sonobi to improve targeted digital advertising capabilities for publishers.

In April 2019, LiveRamp acquired Faktor, a provider of consent management platforms. A few months later in July, it purchased Data Plus Math, a Boston-based television analytics company, for $150 million.

2020s

In January 2020, LiveRamp introduced Privacy Manager, a consent management platform aimed at ensuring adherence to privacy regulations. By March, it launched Safe Haven, a solution allowing advertisers and media owners to share customer data securely while complying with privacy laws. In July of the same year, LiveRamp enhanced Safe Haven’s retail trade analytics by acquiring Acuity Data.

Products and services

LiveRamp offers solutions that enable clients to unify customer information from diverse online and offline channels. Notable products include:

Authenticated Traffic Solutions (ATS), which links publisher and advertiser data without depending on web cookies
Data Marketplace (previously IdentityLink Data Store), facilitating activation of customer datasets for precision marketing
Data Plus Math, delivering media measurement services that help brands, agencies, and networks assess advertising audiences alongside consumer behavior metrics
Onboarding, which anonymizes personally identifiable information (PII) by substituting it with unique identifiers for first-party data analysis across digital and television platforms
Privacy Manager, designed to assist with regulatory compliance through effective consent management
Safe Haven, enabling advertisers and retailers to share and analyze customer transaction data without violating privacy standards

Electronic Privacy Information Center Complaint (2003)

In 2003, the Electronic Privacy Information Center lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Acxiom, LiveRamp’s predecessor, and JetBlue Airways. The allegation claimed that Acxiom had shared consumer data with Torch Concepts, a contractor working for the U.S. Army, without obtaining consumer consent or providing notification, thereby breaching its own declared privacy commitments.

The FTC opted not to pursue any enforcement action. Acxiom maintained that it adhered to its privacy guidelines and explained that Torch Concepts was engaged by the Department of Defense to conduct security research on military installations. The company emphasized that its data products contain sensitive information legally supplied to government entities for purposes such as identity verification, employment background checks, and law enforcement activities.

Data Breach Incident (2003)

In 2003, during data transmission involving Acxiom, more than 1.6 billion customer records were illicitly accessed. The stolen data encompassed personal identifiers such as names, addresses, and email contacts. Prosecutors characterized the 2006 prosecution of the responsible hacker as the most extensive unauthorized access and theft of personal information ever prosecuted at that time. This breach was detected amid an investigation into a different data theft case.

Authorities assured that no individuals faced risks of identity fraud or harm due to this breach and praised Acxiom for its vigorous pursuit of the perpetrators and full cooperation with law enforcement agencies. K. C. Crowley, Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service’s Little Rock Field Office, commended Acxiom’s swift and collaborative response as exemplary for organizations confronted with similar security challenges.

The two main hackers involved received prison sentences of eight years each.

Locations

LiveRamp’s corporate headquarters are situated in San Francisco, California. Additional domestic offices operate in Little Rock, Arkansas; New York, New York; Seattle, Washington; Boston, Massachusetts; Phoenix, Arizona; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company also maintains an international footprint with offices located in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, China, Japan, and Singapore.

External links