"Bigfoot Interactive has agreed to be acquired by Epsilon, the U.S. data management subsidiary of financial and marketing services firm Alliance Data Systems (ADS). The purchase price is approximately $120 million.

Bigfoot is among the largest and best-known standalone e-mail marketing firm in the U.S., with 85 full-time staff and approximately 160 brands in its client roster. The company enjoys strong ties to the Direct Marketing Association and its members, and retains seats on the group's ethics and e-mail append committees.

"We're on the road to building this multi-channel marketing services giant in the marketplace," Bigfoot CEO Al DiGuido told ClickZ News. "Where these types of deals have gone wrong in the past is the clash of cultures and force fitting one in the other. I can tell you from the outset it seemed... very much a hand-in-glove relationship."