PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Publicis Groupe (PUBGY.PK, PGPEF.PK, PUBP.PA), a French advertising and public relations company, announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire LiveRamp, a global data collaboration platform, for a total enterprise value of $2.167 billion in an all-cash transaction, based on an acquisition price of $38.50 per share.
The transaction represents a total equity value of $2.546 billion and includes acquired net cash of $379 million.
The purchase price represents a 29.8% premium to LiveRamp's closing share price on May 15th, 2026, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the agreement.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Publicis Groupe's headline earnings per share from the first year of consolidation, excluding transaction-related costs.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both Publicis Groupe and LiveRamp. The transaction is expected to close before year-end 2026.
Following the acquisition, LiveRamp will continue to be led by CEO Scott Howe, who will report directly to Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun.
Publicis Groupe confirmed its 2026 guidance of a 4% to 5% net revenue organic growth, slight improvement in operating margin rate vs 18.2% in 2025.
The Groupe raised its 2027 and 2028 constant currency growth objectives to +7% to +8% for net revenue and +8% to +10% for headline earnings per share, versus previous objectives of +6% to +7% and +7% to +9%, respectively.
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