COMPANY PROFILE

Epsilon

Group: Publicis Groupe · Founded: 1969

2 fines or sanctions1 data breach

What it does and how it makes money

A data-driven marketing company owned by Publicis Groupe since 2019 that helps brands onboard, enrich and activate customer data for advertising and marketing. It includes Conversant (formerly ValueClick) and Lotame, whose purchase Publicis announced in March 2025.

It charges businesses for consumer data, identity services and running marketing and targeted-advertising campaigns. ^[1]

What data it collects about you

According to its consumer page, it collects names and postal addresses, household purchase categories (where a household shops and what it buys), demographics, interests and survey answers, mostly supplied by client companies; it groups households into segments to predict what they may buy. ^[2]

How it turns your data into money

Epsilon is a data broker: it has no users, it has records. According to its consumer information page, its household purchase database contains consumer names and postal addresses and information on household purchases, demographics and interests, obtained mostly from its clients (catalog and retail companies, also nonprofits and publishers). It filters purchases into categories, groups consumers with similar interests into niches and models them with algorithms; it then sells companies lists and profiles to make their advertising more relevant, and its COREid product claims to recognize and reach more than 200 million US consumers. Example: if you buy running gear from a catalog, Epsilon can place you in a runners niche and another sports brand can buy that segment to send you its catalog or ads. The US Department of Justice documented that between 2008 and 2017 its Direct to Consumer unit sold modeled lists with data on more than 30 million consumers to fraudulent clients; Epsilon says it holds no Social Security or bank account numbers and honors requests to opt out of data sales. ^[2]

Where it is incorporated

Epsilon Data Management, LLC is a US limited liability company headquartered in Irving, Texas, with its principal sales office in Westminster, Colorado. Since 2019 it has belonged to the French advertising group Publicis Groupe, which bought it from Alliance Data Systems for $4.4 billion; in Publicis's organization chart it sits under MMS USA Holdings alongside Sapient Corporation and the other US subsidiaries. ^[3]

Taxes and low-tax countries

No documented statement about Epsilon's use of low-tax jurisdictions was found. Its parent Publicis Groupe lists in the organization chart of its 2025 Universal Registration Document holding companies in the Netherlands (Publicis Groupe Holdings BV, MMS Netherlands Holdings) and Ireland (MMS Multi Market Services Ireland, MMS Multi Euro Services (Ireland)), without stating their tax function. ^[3]

Fines and sanctions

In total: 152.9 million USD

• U.S. Department of Justice · United States · January 19, 2021150 million USD
  Deferred prosecution agreement for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud: from 2008 to 2017 its Direct to Consumer unit sold data on more than 30 million consumers to fraudulent sweepstakes and astrology schemes that mainly hurt elderly and vulnerable people. Of the total, $127.5 million went to compensate victims. Accepted by the company. ^[4]
• FTC · United States · March 17, 20082.9 million USD
  Settlement with the FTC by ValueClick (renamed Conversant in 2014 and folded into Epsilon): civil penalty for deceptive emails and ads promising 'free' gifts (CAN-SPAM Act). The FTC also charged it with falsely claiming to secure and encrypt customer data and required a 20-year security program. These are the FTC's allegations, resolved by settlement. ^[5]

Data breaches and hacks

• April 2011
  Unauthorized access to its email system on 30 March 2011 exposed names and email addresses of customers of companies using its email marketing services; the company said no other personal data was exposed. ^[6]

Ask it to delete your data

This is the page the company itself gives to ask it to delete your data or stop selling it: Open its page ^[7]

With GUARDIANA or GUARDIANA ZERO, you download from this same profile the letter asking it to delete your data, under your country’s law, ready to attach to an email.

Its website

https://www.epsilon.com/

Sources

1. https://www.epsilon.com/us/about-us/pressroom/publicis-groupe-finalizes-the-acquisition-of-epsilon
2. https://legal.epsilon.com/us/consumer-information
3. https://publicis-groupe.publispeak.com/2025-universal-registration-document/article/25/
4. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/marketing-company-agrees-pay-150-million-facilitating-elder-fraud-schemes
5. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2008/03/valueclick-pay-29-million-settle-ftc-charges
6. https://www.hunton.com/privacy-and-cybersecurity-law-blog/email-marketing-service-providers-data-breach-likely-to-affect-millions
7. https://legal.epsilon.com/dsr

What this profile does NOT say

• It does not say this company does anything illegal. The only thing it states about anyone’s legality is what a regulator or a court has already decided, with the date and the link to the source.
• It does not say what data of yours it holds: only the company knows, which is why you have the right to ask it.
• If you are this company and a fact is wrong, write to hola@guardianagroup.com and it will be corrected, with its date.

Public facts with their sources, checked on October 12, 2026. All profiles →