LiveRamp shares soar: it will be bought by France's Publicis to expand its AI strategy

Quotes of small-cap company LiveRamp Holdings, which specializes in software solutions for working with data and marketing, soared by more than 27% on Ma 18. The company reported: it plans to buy the French advertising group Publicis at a premium to the market. The deal will help it introduce AI agents and enter a new target market, it said.

LiveRamp shares rose more than 27% to $37.8 on the New York Stock Exchange on May 18. This is the maximum since February 2024.

The reason for the rally was the company's announcement that it is planned to be acquired by French Publicis. For the deal LiveRamp is valued at $2.55 billion or $38.5 per share. This is almost 30% higher than the value of the American company's securities at the close of trading on Friday, Ma. 15, the last trading day before the announcement of the agreement between the parties.

The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the transaction, and it is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to approval by LiveRamp shareholders and regulators, the statement said.

LiveRamp is a developer of a specialized platform that transforms fragmented and disparate data, making it analyzable, usable and measurable. It enables data aggregation across thousands of brands, retailers and media platforms, the press release said.

In early March, the company announced the possibility of using AI agents in the work of its platform. Agents will be able to do what marketers used to do manually: target audiences, measure the effectiveness of campaigns and optimize costs, the developer explained.

"You can't be successful with agents if you don't have the right and unique data. For agents to be competitive and work, they need quality data - unique, useful and interconnected," explained Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal. He believes that without the necessary data, business investments in AI will not bring significant returns and may undermine the competitiveness of companies.

The planned acquisition is part of Publicis' strategy. The company is looking to incorporate artificial intelligence into its operations, while large advertising holdings are under pressure from investors to demonstrate their ability to stay relevant to clients in a marketing landscape increasingly shaped by technology, the WSJ writes.

For this purpose, the French group acquired data processing company Epsilon back in 2019. The acquisition of LiveRamp, in turn, will allow Publicis to introduce new technologies, expand its potential market and ultimately increase its growth targets for 2027-2028, according to the press release.

LiveRamp quotes have jumped nearly 29% since the beginning of the year.

The company's securities have three "hold" ratings from Wall Street analysts and two "buy" ratings. The average target is $36.1, which is 6% below the price Publicis plans to pay for shares of the American developer.