Image courtesy of Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe is acquiring global data collaboration platform LiveRamp in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $2.2 billion USD, as the holding company deepens its investment in AI, identity and data infrastructure.

Under the agreement announced May 17, Publicis will acquire LiveRamp for $38.50 USD per share. The company says the acquisition will expand its addressable market while strengthening its ability to deliver what it calls “agentic business transformation.”

In announcing the deal, Publicis positioned LiveRamp as a foundational layer for AI-enabled marketing, with the company saying data collaboration and identity infrastructure are becoming increasingly important in the “agentic era.”

“With LiveRamp, Publicis will become a leader in data co-creation,” the company said in its announcement, describing the capability as an “important” enabler of AI-powered business transformation.

According to Publicis, LiveRamp’s capabilities will complement existing assets including Epsilon, Publicis Sapient and the company’s Marcel AI platform.

Arthur Sadoun, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said in a press release that the industry is entering “a new era defined by AI,” adding that clients increasingly need ways to connect and activate first-party data across fragmented systems, channels and platforms.

The company says it connects more than 25,000 publisher domains and more than 500 platform and data partners globally, and already has ties to the broader North American media ecosystem through partnerships tied to streaming advertising and measurement. During its 2025 upfront presentation last year, Netflix highlighted partnerships including LiveRamp as part of its evolving first-party measurement and advertising strategy. In Canada specifically, LiveRamp partnered with Environics Analytics in 2024 on privacy-secure data collaboration solutions.

The acquisition also builds on Publicis’s broader strategy of positioning itself less as a traditional holding company and more as a technology, data and AI business. The company previously acquired Epsilon in 2019 and Lotame earlier this year as part of its ongoing identity and data expansion strategy.

While Publicis framed the acquisition around interoperability and data collaboration, the deal is also expected to raise broader industry questions around neutrality and control of identity infrastructure.

Publicis said LiveRamp will continue to operate as “neutral infrastructure” across the wider ecosystem despite now sitting within one of the world’s largest agency holding companies.

The deal lands at a time when advertisers, publishers, retail media networks and agencies are increasingly prioritizing first-party data, identity resolution and privacy-safe measurement in a post-cookie environment. At the same time, AI-driven marketing workflows are placing greater emphasis on proprietary data and interoperable infrastructure.

Industry observers have increasingly pointed to identity and data connectivity as becoming a foundational layer for AI-enabled advertising and marketing systems, particularly as holding companies and platforms race to strengthen their ownership of first-party data assets and closed-loop measurement capabilities.

The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

– This story originally appeared in Media In Canada