Hightouch Makes Bold Bid for LiveRamp's Identity Business
Ad tech startup Hightouch offers $800M to $1.2B in cash and stock to acquire LiveRamp's identity unit from Publicis.
Hightouch is swinging big. The ad tech startup, recently valued at $2.75 billion, has lobbed an offer to snag LiveRamp's identity business from ad holding giant Publicis.
The proposed deal? Between $800 million and $1.2 billion in a mix of cash and stock. That's a hefty chunk of change for a company that only recently crossed into unicorn territory itself.
LiveRamp's identity resolution tech is a cornerstone of modern ad targeting — connecting consumer data across platforms and devices. Publicis acquired LiveRamp as part of its broader data strategy, but Hightouch apparently sees an opportunity to pry it loose.
If the deal goes through, it would mark one of the more aggressive consolidation plays in the ad tech data layer. Hightouch has been building out its customer data platform and bolting on identity infrastructure would supercharge that ambition considerably.