Big news: IPG has acquired Acxiom’s Marketing Solutions (AMS) group for $2.3B.

What does AMS do? AMS is a data services and analytics company with data on 2B+ consumers.

Quote from Diaz Nesamoney –CEO @ Jivox:
“AMS, like many data providers, gets data from retail partners, public government records, surveys, websites, apps and data aggregators. The data comes from consumers who have allowed this data to be collected and used for marketing and personalization purposes.”

TBD: LiveRamp was not included in the sale and will now publicly trade under the ticker RAMP. The big question is if they will also be acquired by another company.

The top contenders for LiveRamp:
1) Oracle
2) Adobe
3) AT&T
4) SalesForce
5) Private Equity

Important: AMS sold for 40% above BMO Capital Market’s valuation of the business! Many believe that LiveRamp would see that same type of premium.

Flashback: As Television Gets More Digital, TV Advertising Needs To Follow Suit

More #1: IPG Makes A $2 Billion Bet On Data With Acxiom Marketing Solutions

More #2: Acxiom sells Marketing Solutions division to Interpublic, readies LiveRamp

More #3: Acxiom’s LiveRamp inks deal with Sonobi as sale rumors swirl