Publicis Agrees To FTC Consent Order, Settles LiveRamp Deal

 


The Federal Trade Commission and Publicis Groupe have agreed to a proposed consent order related to the latter’s $2.2 acquisition of data connectivity firm LiveRamp. The deal was announced in May and Publicis says it is expected to close before year’s end.  

On Monday The FTC issued both the proposed consent order and a complaint related to the deal which addresses concerns that it would restrict competition in the media agency and audience data services sectors.   

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The FTC said that per the proposed order, for five years Publicis and LiveRamp are required to: 

  • Provide non-discriminatory access and support on fair and reasonable terms to LiveRamp’s standalone products and services and are prohibited from denying, degrading, delaying or impairing LiveRamp customers’ continued access to LiveRamp’s standalone products and services. 

  • Establish firewalls to ensure that Publicis does not access or use LiveRamp customer data and confidential business information that it receives from a customer’s use of LiveRamp’s standalone products and services. 

  • Appoint an independent auditor to audit the company’s compliance with the proposed contractual commitments every six months for the first two years after the date that the proposed transaction closes, and then once a year thereafter for the following three years. 

The order also includes a requirement that Publicis will not retaliate against customers that discuss compliance concerns with the Commission. LiveRamp customers also have the option to request an audit of Publicis’s compliance with the data protection, privacy and security obligations as applied to the requesting customer.  

There’s also a provision for a third-party mediation of contractual compliance disputes that remain unresolved after 30 days. 

The Commission vote to issue the complaint and accept the consent agreement for a 30-day public comment period was 2-0. 

Publicis Group issued a press release stating that it “is pleased to have reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, based on commitments proactively proposed by the Group.” 

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