A Whopping Big Acquisition
Sterling-based Neustar is scooping up LA-based MarketShare Partners for $450M, making it a behemoth in the marketing analytics space. In the words of Donald Trump, "this is huuuuge."
Neustar president Lisa Hook says the transaction advances the company’s growth strategy in the $19B marketing data and analytics market, which is expected to grow 16% a year through 2018. MarketShare’s product gives companies a better reading on what’s driving their sales. Its product uses sales, marketing, macroeconomics and customers’ proprietary data to quantify the sales impact for brands like MasterCard, Turner Broadcasting, Intel, USAA, CarMax and Twitter. MarketShare, which had been a data sharing partner with Neustar, generated revenue of $57M in FY 2015.
Neustar, spun out of Lockheed Martin in ’99, has been building up its information services business since 2010, bringing it to $489M in revenue in 2014. Its marketing services revenue has also grown during that time, from $3M to $147M. Neustar’s 2,500 marketing clients use its technology to buy digital ads through automation. The company’s overall revenue is on pace to hit $1B this year. The acquisition is the second for Neustar since 2013.
