On October 8, 2024, Zeta Global, the AI-powered marketing cloud, announced its agreement to acquire LiveIntent. Founded in 2009, LiveIntent is a trailblazer in people-based marketing, featuring proprietary technology that drives mobile-centric experiences and first-party identity solutions to identify, engage, and monetize audiences across various channels.
This acquisition will enhance the Zeta Marketing Platform by:
Boosting identity resolution capabilities: LiveIntent’s extensive identity graph, which includes over 235 million unique hashed email addresses per month, will be integrated into Zeta’s Data Cloud. This strengthens Zeta’s identity resolution solutions, as authenticated and reliable identity data is crucial for effective marketing. Adding LiveIntent’s data will broaden Zeta’s capabilities and improve the precision of its people-based marketing programs.
Entering publisher monetization: With access to LiveIntent’s network of over 2,000 premium publishers, including eight of the top 10 in Comscore rankings, Zeta is expanding into the publisher monetization sector. This will allow Zeta to launch a new offering, the Publisher Cloud, creating a robust closed-loop ecosystem that competes with the reach and targeting abilities of walled gardens.
Enhancing mobile and retail media solutions: The acquisition will accelerate Zeta’s recently launched mobile and retail media products, enabling marketers to unify identity across devices and channels, predict customer behavior, uncover hidden opportunities, and utilize AI for real-time intelligence-powered cross-channel campaigns. LiveIntent supports millions of mobile experiences daily, and its recent entry into retail media aligns with Zeta’s goal of offering innovative solutions to retailers and brands.
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David A. Steinberg, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zeta Global, expressed excitement about welcoming LiveIntent to the team. He emphasized the potential for the combined companies to grow faster than the market, as brands increasingly recognize the value of first-party data and seek to implement AI effectively across the customer lifecycle.
Steinberg noted, “Consistent with our focused and disciplined approach to M&A, LiveIntent meets all four of our M&A principles. It’s a complementary platform that we can seamlessly integrate into the Zeta Marketing Platform within six months. This acquisition is immediately accretive to earnings, priced attractively at an Adjusted EBITDA multiple of approximately 16x. We’ve already seen interest from Zeta customers in our largest verticals for cross-selling opportunities, and we believe these synergies will boost LiveIntent’s growth while maintaining Zeta’s strong organic growth rates. Ultimately, we foresee our combined efforts creating long-term value for shareholders and significant benefits for our customers.”
Matt Keiser, CEO of LiveIntent, stated, “We’ve been extremely impressed with Zeta’s remarkable growth and their ability to deliver real impact to global customers. Our shared focus on innovation and making AI-powered marketing actionable excites us as we collaborate to offer marketers and publishers enhanced capabilities to connect with their audiences across more channels.”