


                                                               Exhibit 12


 Acxiom Corporation                      May & Speh, Inc. 
 301 Industrial Blvd.                    1501 Opus Place 
 P.O. Box 2000                           Downers Grove, IL 60515-5713 
 Conway, AR 72233-2000                    
  
 For more information, contact:          For more information, contact: 
  
 Robert S. Bloom                         Eric Loughmiller 
 Company Finance Leader                  Chief Financial Officer 
 (501) 336-1321                          (630) 719-0432 
  

                   ACXIOM(R) CORPORATION AND MAY & SPEH, INC.
                              COMPLETE MERGER 
  
           CONWAY, AR AND DONWERS GROVE, IL, SEPTEMBER 17, 1998  
 Acxiom(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:  ACXM) and May & Speh, Inc.
 (Nasdaq
 SPEH) today jointly announced completion of their merger.  As a
 result of the merger, which became effective today following approval by
 the stockholders of each company, May & Speh will become a wholly-owned
 subsidiary of Acxiom.  Stockholders of May & Speh will receive .8 of a
 share of Acxiom common stock for each share of May & Speh common stock
 held. 

           May & Speh stockholders will be sent information explaining the
 procedures to be followed for exchanging their shares for shares of Acxiom
 common stock they are entitled to receive as a result of the merger.  Also
 in connection with the merger, Acxiom has announced that it will be a co-
 obligor of the May & Speh 51/4% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2003. 

           Charles D. Morgan, Chairman and Company Leader of Acxiom,
 commented, "The new company's joint resources are a very powerful
 combination.  Our product and services offerings will be significantly
 enhanced when we marry Acxiom's data with May and Speh's analytical
 capability and the combined know-how of our two companies.  We are very
 excited about the cost-saving and significant growth opportunities that the
 merger of the two companies will create." 

           An organizational alignment plan has been developed and approved
 and will be phased in over the next several months.  The new alignment,
 which will be effective and fully in place by April 1, 1999, will represent
 five Acxiom Divisions:  International (headquartered in London) and
 Outsourcing (headquartered in Chicago), as well as Financial, Data
 Products, and Services (headquartered in Conway).  The objective is to
 create maximum focus and synergy on the vertical industries, outsourcing
 opportunities and international development of the combined company. 

           Acxiom provides a wide spectrum of data products, data
 integration services, and mailing list services, as well as data
 warehousing and decision support services to major U.S. and international
 firms.  Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, with
 operations throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom and
 France. 

           Founded in 1947, May & Speh is a leading provider of technology-
 based information management services with a focus on direct marketing
 services and information technology (IT) outsourcing services.  The
 company's database marketing solutions help companies execute more
 profitable direct marketing and customer management programs.  Services
 include strategic analysis and management; systems consulting; data
 warehouse design and management; modeling and analysis; and list
 processing.  For companies looking to outsource all or part of their
 information systems operations, May & Speh provides IT services to support
 mainframe and mid-range (client/server) processing and network management. 



