Liveramp Holdings Inc (RAMP) News & EventsRAMPLiveramp Holdings Inc

Publicis Reaches Agreement with FTC to Ensure Client Data Protection

Publicis (PUBGY) reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, based on commitments proactively proposed by the group. The company said, "From the outset, we have recognised the significance of this acquisition for clients and the industry. LiveRamp's (RAMP) neutrality and independence have always been fundamental to its model, and both companies have taken proactive steps to preserve these principles across the entire ecosystem, now and for the future. That is why, ahead of the regulatory process, LiveRamp's leadership directly reaffirmed to its clients the continued commitment to: Freedom of choice: Preserving clients' ability to use LiveRamp's products and services independently. Fair access for all: Ensuring fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory access to LiveRamp's products and services. Data protection: Safeguarding client data and ensuring it remains under their control. Interoperability: Maintaining an open ecosystem connected to third-party agencies and platforms. Independent oversight: Upholding these commitments through periodic independent audits. These principles remain unchanged and underpin the outcome announced today. We continue to expect the deal to close before the end of the year."

FTC Requires Publicis Groupe to Comply with LiveRamp Acquisition Conditions

The Federal Trade Commission has taken steps to preserve competition in the digital advertising ecosystem by requiring Publicis Groupe (PUBGY) to continue providing neutral and nondiscriminatory access to LiveRamp's (RAMP) products and services, and to establish firewalls to prevent Publicis from accessing LiveRamp's customer data, in order to complete Publicis's acquisition of the company. The proposed consent order would address the FTC's concerns that Publicis's acquisition of LiveRamp, which provides data connectivity services that help facilitate the secure and confidential movement of data used for digital advertising, would harm competition in the markets for media agency services and audience data services. Under the $2.2B deal, Publicis, which provides media agency services including media planning and buying for digital advertising campaigns, would acquire 100% of LiveRamp. The deal would likely result in Publicis having the ability and incentive to foreclose customers of competing media agency service providers by using its control of LiveRamp to push customers to switch their media agency business to Publicis even if those customers otherwise prefer competing media agencies, according to the FTC's complaint. The FTC alleged that combining Publicis and LiveRamp would decrease competition in the relevant markets for media agency services and audience data services in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. The FTC also alleged Publicis would deny or degrade access to LiveRamp services on which competitors rely, which would lead to higher costs and lower quality services for customers of competing digital advertising services. In addition, the FTC alleged that under the deal Publicis would gain access to competitively sensitive data of non-Publicis clients serviced by LiveRamp, which Publicis would leverage to pressure those clients to switch to Publicis. Under the proposed order, Publicis and LiveRamp, for five years, are required to: provide non-discriminatory access and support on fair and reasonable terms to LiveRamp's standalone products and services and are prohibited from denying, degrading, delaying or impairing LiveRamp customers' continued access to LiveRamp's standalone products and services; establish firewalls to ensure that Publicis does not access or use LiveRamp customer data and confidential business information that it receives from a customer's use of LiveRamp's standalone products and services; appoint an independent auditor to audit the company's compliance with the proposed contractual commitments every six months for the first two years after the date that the proposed transaction closes, and then once a year thereafter for the following three years and the order also provides additional protections for LiveRamp customers, including a requirement that Publicis shall not retaliate against customers that discuss compliance concerns with the Commission. Under the order, LiveRamp customers also have the option to request an audit of Publicis's compliance with the data protection, privacy and security obligations as applied to the requesting customer. The order also provides for third-party mediation of contractual compliance disputes that remain unresolved after 30 days. The Commission vote to issue the complaint and accept the consent agreement for public comment was 2-0.