LiveIntent has laid off 35 people, according to a warn notice filed this week with the New York State Department of Labor.
The data and identity company was acquired by Zeta Global for $250 million in a deal that closed Oct. 21. The acquisition was first announced on Oct. 8.
New York-based LiveIntent had 159 employees, according to the notice. The announced layoffs represent 22% of LiveIntent’s employees. The layoffs started on October 21 and will continue until November 22, according to the notice.
A spokesperson from Zeta Global said that the roles impacted by the layoffs “were duplicative with existing Zeta resources.”
The spokesperson added that LiveIntent’s offices in New York, Copenhagen, and Berlin will remain open.
Zeta Global is a marketing cloud company. LiveIntent sells technology that helps publishers sell ads in email newsletters with an identity graph that includes 235 million hashed email addresses.
Zeta’s stock climbed 4% to $33.13 on news of the deal on Oct. 9, but has since sagged. Its stock closed on Oct. 24 at $26.13, down 2.8% from the day of the acquisition’s close on Oct. 21.
But Zeta Global has been growing in the past year. Quarterly revenue in the second quarter of 2024 hit $228 million, a 33% year-over-year rise. Quarterly adjusted EBITDA was $38.5 million, up 44% from last year.
The company raised its third-quarter guidance on Sept. 4. It will report third-quarter earnings on November 11.
Despite the layoffs, the acquisition by Zeta Global was likely a positive for LiveIntent, said Ana Milicevic, co-founder of programmatic consultancy Sparrow Advisors. Milicevic said that Zeta Global had likely reached a ceiling on its growth.
“If you are a channel specialist, at some point you may have hit saturation to continue growing at a rapid pace,” she said.
