Alliance Data Systems Corporation (ADS) was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Alliance Data was formed from the December 1996 merger of J.C. Penney's (JCP) credit card processing unit and The Limited's credit card bank operation. In August 1998, Alliance Data acquired Loyalty Group for $250 million. The deal gave Alliance Data two valuable business enhancements, Canada's Air Miles Rewards Program and the company behind the popular Air Miles program, LoyaltyOne. It also had a digital marketing segment called Epsilon which it divested in 2019 for about $3.5 Billion or (10 X