LivePerson Launches Operations in Japan, Announces Strategic Partnerships with Dentsu Subsidiaries, Dentsu Razorfish and ISID

TOKYO, Dec. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN), a leading provider of digital engagement solutions, today announced the formation of LivePerson Japan Kabushiki Kaisha, and strategic partnerships with Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (ISID), and Dentsu Razorfish, group subsidiaries of Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency. In addition to the creation of the Japanese entity, LivePerson has named Akio Fukasawa as Country Manager of the company's Japanese operations.

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LivePerson's digital engagement platform helps digital brands understand consumer intent and value, the moment they arrive to a website, enabling brands to connect with customers through chat, voice, personalized messaging, and video chat across multiple channels and devices, helping to improve the digital experience and increase brand value.

The company established its first partnership in May with Vixia Inc., a partial subsidiary of one of Japan's largest contact centers, Moshi Moshi Hotline, Inc., and together, Vixia and LivePerson have signed several enterprise customers in Japan to date. New partnerships are also underway with Dentsu Razorfish, a leading digital agency, and ISID, a leading technology services provider to financial services organizations to promote, distribute, and support the LivePerson platform in Japan. LivePerson, Dentsu Razorfish, and ISID hosted a launch event for customers, prospects and select members of media today in Tokyo.

Leveraging the expertise of partners like Vixia, ISID, and Dentsu Razorfish in the areas of digital marketing, technology implementation, and innovative digital experiences, respectively, LivePerson intends to promote and deliver its multi-channel engagement platform to a broader range of enterprises. Through these partnerships, the Company also plans to build its presence in key verticals such as financial services, retail, eCommerce, travel and high-tech.

"The Japanese market truly leads the way when it comes to delivering the highest standards of customer service, and businesses in Japan are recognizing the need to deliver that same philosophy of service in the digital world. It is also a market where digital commerce is maturing rapidly. These two critical factors make Japan a strategic market for us," said Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson. "There is tremendous opportunity to partner with Japanese businesses to deliver meaningful, real-time support to customers across digital channels. By providing personalized, real-time assistance to customers, whether they're on a website, mobile, or social platform, businesses can exceed consumer expectations and truly differentiate their brand."

"Our mission is to help build great brands by creating, rich, engaging experiences for consumers throughout their digital journey. The partnership with LivePerson is a natural extension of this goal, as their platform supports Razorfish's world class commerce services," said Hidetoshi Tokumaru, President and CEO of Dentsu Razorfish. "We look forward to bringing our complementary expertise to the Japanese market, while helping brands enhance the experience they deliver to their customers."

"As more consumers choose to do their banking activity online, trust and loyalty are critical for success, so it's imperative that financial service institutions understand how to provide optimal support to their customers in the digital environment," said Shigeyuki Suganuma, Senior Executive Officer and Director of Financial Industry Business Operations at ISID. "By combining the LivePerson platform with ISID's financial solutions, which include contact center and online banking solutions, we hope to enable businesses to deliver an exceptional digital experience, driving higher levels of customer satisfaction and measurable success."

LivePerson serves over 8,500 businesses of all sizes around the globe, helping many of the world's largest banks, telecommunications companies and retailers deliver a superior customer experience, while increasing ROI from their digital properties. LivePerson's data-driven platform enables businesses to better understand and support their digital customers, by providing them with a personalized experience in real time, whether it's via tools like live chat, voice, video, or personalized content. These tools offer consumers the convenience of immediate, personalized support in today's multi-channel environment, delivering a rich, seamless experience.

Safe Harbor Provision
Statements in this press release regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements.  Any such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to financial guidance, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  It is routine for our internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and year progresses, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections and beliefs upon which we base our expectations may change.  Although these expectations may change, we are under no obligation to inform you if they do.  Actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements.  Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include, without limitation: potential fluctuations in our quarterly revenue and operating results; the adverse effect that the global economic downturn may have on our business and results of operations; competition in the markets for online sales, marketing and customer service solutions, and online consumer services; our ability to retain existing clients and attract new clients; risks related to new regulatory or other legal requirements that could materially impact our business; impairments to goodwill that result in significant charges to earnings; volatility of the value of certain currencies in relation to the US dollar, particularly the currency of regions where we have operations; additional regulatory requirements, tax liabilities, currency exchange rate fluctuations and other risks as we expand internationally; responding to rapid technological change and changing client preferences; our ability to retain key personnel and attract new personnel; our ability to expand our operations internationally; risks related to the ability to successfully integrate past or potential future acquisitions; risks related to the regulation or possible misappropriation of personal information belonging to our customers' Internet users; technology systems beyond our control and technology-related defects that could disrupt the LivePerson services; privacy concerns relating to the Internet that could result in new legislation or negative public perception; legal liability and/or negative publicity for the services provided to consumers via our technology platforms; risks related to protecting our intellectual property rights or potential infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties; increased allowances for doubtful accounts as a result of an increasing amount of receivables due from customers with greater credit risk; delays in our implementation cycles; risks associated with our current or future stock repurchase programs, including whether such programs will enhance long-term stockholder value, and whether such stock repurchases could increase the volatility of the price of our common stock and diminish our cash reserves; risks related to our operations in Israel, and the civil and political unrest in that region; and risks related to our common stock being traded on more than one securities exchange, which may result in additional variations in the trading price of our common stock.  This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.  Readers are referred to the reports and documents filed from time to time by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in forward-looking statements.

About LivePerson
LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) offers a cloud-based platform that enables businesses to proactively connect in real-time with their customers via chat, voice, and content delivery at the right time, through the right channel, including websites, social media, and mobile devices. This "intelligent engagement" is driven by real-time behavioral analytics, producing connections based on a true understanding of business objectives and customer needs.

More than 8,500 companies rely on LivePerson's platform to increase conversions and improve customer experience, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Verizon, Sky, Walt Disney, PNC, QVC and Orbitz.

LivePerson received the CODiE award for Best Content Management Solution in 2012, and has been named a Market Share Leader by Frost and Sullivan in 2012.  LivePerson is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Amsterdam, Santa Monica, Tel Aviv, London and Melbourne.

For more information, please visit www.liveperson.com. To view other press releases about LivePerson, please visit pr.liveperson.com.

Twitter: @LivePerson
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Media Contacts:
LivePerson: Erin Kang
[email protected]  
212.609.4256

SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.