Advertising holding company Publicis Groupe’s planned acquisition of data collaboration firm LiveRamp was overwhelmingly approved by LiveRamp shareholders in a vote Monday (Aug. 17), crossing a key threshold in finalizing the $2.2 billion deal.  The sale was approved with 92% of represented shares voting in favor and less than 1% voting against the deal.  The arrangement will make LiveRamp a wholly owned subsidiary of Publicis once the deal closes—a setup that has raised widespread concerns over LiveRamp’s status as a neutral platform. Publicis rival Omnicom, for example, has already started to transition away from LiveRamp following news of the deal, though Havas has said it will keep the platform accessible to clients.  For 55 year-old Arthur Sadoun, who took over as CEO of Publicis Groupe in 2017, the buy represents the biggest deal under his tenure since the $4.4 billion acquisition of data company Epsilon in 2019.  Importantly, LiveRamp shareholders did not approve a proposed executive pay package tied to the purchase.  By a vote of 44.3 million shares versus 7.3 million shares, they disapproved a proposed “golden parachute” setup that could pay five top LiveRamp execs a combined $82.6 million if they are terminated without cause after the deal closes. However, that vote doesn’t block or invalidate the acquisition, and those payouts could theoretically still happen because the arrangement is already established in a contract.  Shareholders also reelected three sitting directors on LiveRamp’s board: CEO Scott Howe, former DocuSign exec Vivian Chow, and GoFundMe CEO Timothy Cadogan. Neither Publicis nor LiveRamp responded to requests for comment by press time.