Acxiom Stock Falls After Facebook Cuts Ties With Data Brokers

(RTTNews) - Shares of data management firm Acxiom Corp. (ACXM) were down 19% in Thursday trading after Facebook Inc. (FB) announced its plans to discontinue Facebook Partner Categories, an audience-targeting platform. Acxiom said it did not expect the change to impact its fiscal 2018 guidance.

Acxiom said that it was informed, by Facebook, that Facebook Partner Categories would be discontinued over the next several months. Facebook Partner Categories provides audience targeting options by leveraging third-party data providers, including Acxiom's Audience Solutions division.

Acxiom said it intended to provide fiscal 2019 guidance on its fourth quarter earnings call. However, given the change at Facebook, it was updating its preliminary fiscal 2019 guidance. Acxiom expects total revenue and profitability to be negatively impacted by as much as $25 million. However, the Company continues to expect its LiveRamp segment to grow by at least 30% year-over-year.

ACXM closed Thursday's regular trading at $22.71, down $5.34 or 19.04 percent.