Zoom to Acquire Kites GmbH

Kites Team to Help Enhance Zoom’s Machine Translation Capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif. and KARLSRUHE, Germany, June 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions – Kites GmbH (“Kites”), a start-up dedicated to developing real-time Machine Translation (“MT”) solutions. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Kites was founded in 2015 and has academic roots with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where co-founders Dr. Alex Waibel and Dr. Sebastian Stüker are faculty members. Kites’ talented team of 12 research scientists will help Zoom’s engineering team advance the field of MT to improve meeting productivity and efficiency by providing multi-language translation capabilities for Zoom users.

“We are continuously looking for new ways to deliver happiness to our users and improve meeting productivity, and MT solutions will be key in enhancing our platform for Zoom customers across the globe,” said Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom. “With our aligned missions to make collaboration frictionless – regardless of language, geographic location, or other barriers – we are confident Kites’ impressive team will fit right in with Zoom.”

“Kites emerged with the mission of breaking down language barriers and making seamless cross-language interaction a reality of everyday life, and we have long admired Zoom for its ability to easily connect people across the world,” said Dr. Waibel and Dr. Stüker. “We know Zoom is the best partner for Kites to help advance our mission and we are excited to see what comes next under Zoom’s incredible innovation engine.”

Dr. Stüker and the rest of the Kites team will remain based in Karlsruhe, Germany, where Zoom looks forward to investing in growing the team. Zoom is exploring opening an R&D center in Germany in the future. Dr. Waibel will become a Zoom Research Fellow, a role in which he will advise on Zoom’s MT research and development.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains express and implied “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 related to Zoom’s acquisition of Kites that involves substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements in this communication include, among other things, statements about the potential benefits of the transaction, our development of our MT solutions, our ability to integrate the Kites team, and potential growth opportunities. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “project,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “predict,” “potential,” “target,” “explore,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. By their nature, these statements are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including factors beyond our control, that could cause actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the statements. These assumptions, uncertainties and risks include that, among others, the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the transaction are not realized when expected or at all, division of management’s attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities, potential adverse reactions or changes to business or employee relationships, the ability to integrate Kites successfully, and other factors that may affect future results of Zoom. Additional risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements are included under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2021. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made and are based on information available to Zoom at the time those statements are made and/or management’s good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events. Zoom assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, except as required by law.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.

About Kites
Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions – Kites GmbH is a start-up company founded in 2015 by Dr. Sebastian Stüker and Dr. Alex Waibel with the express purpose of transforming the latest research in speech translation technology into viable products. Kites’ mission is breaking down language barriers and making seamless cross-language interaction a reality of everyday life. Kites aims to provide custom services to its customers in order to provide technology and services that fit and are operated and maintained at the necessary quality levels.

Zoom Press Relations
Colleen Rodriguez
Global Media Relations Lead
press@zoom.us

Zoom Investor Relations
Tom McCallum
Head of Investor Relations
investors@zoom.us

Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group Announces Formation of Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases (SEA) Sdn. Bhd in Malaysia

TEMECULA, Calif., June 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (Group), a subsidiary of Nikkiso Co., Ltd (Japan), is proud to announce the creation of Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases (SEA) Sdn. Bhd. effective 1st July 2021. This company represents the combining of our two Malaysia business units: Cryogenic Industries and Cryoquip in a new joint facility.

This merger represents another step forward in the Group’s overall corporate growth strategy, emphasizing their ability to provide both global and regional support for sales and service. The name change emphasizes the support and strength of the larger Group; Clean Energy is the growth engine and Industrial Gases the core foundation.

The new, larger facility provides a strong support structure for future growth. Ideally placed within the region to support their key customers and provide an additional focus on clean energy, the 56,400 square foot facility is twice the size of their previous center. It has an improved capacity for loading flow and manufacturing for vaporizers, vacuum lines, process skid fabrication and assembly, refurbishment work, as well as pumps parts and service. In addition, it offers opportunities for sharing resources with other Nikkiso group companies (supporting Nikkiso Cryo or for fabrication of LEWA SEA and/or Geveke Malaysia skids).

According to Tim Born, the Vice President of Nikkiso CE&IG for South East Asia and Oceania;

“This new facility will provide a one-stop shop for the Nikkiso CE&IG Group’s cryogenic process equipment, installations and services. The amalgamation of our two businesses in Malaysia and the willingness to expand our facility and capabilities highlights our Group’s commitment to this region. Our new facility will provide timely local support for our complete range of products and services, and I look forward to working together with our customers and our talented local Nikkiso CE&IG team to provide the products and services this growing region needs.”

Nikkiso CE&IG (SEA) is responsible for business in South East Asia, namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia, as well as Taiwan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and provides support to the Middle East, India, Africa and Australia.

Contact Information:

Nikkiso Clean Energy and Industrial Gases (SEA) Sdn. Bhd. 199601016333
(formerly known as Cryoquip Sdn. Bhd. 388684-P)
Lot 862, Jalan Subang 8, Taman Perindustrian Subang
47600 Subang, Selangor, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 8081 8330
Fax: +60 3 8081 8360
Email: sales.sea@nikkisoceig.com Website: www.nikkisoCEIG.com

ABOUT CRYOGENIC INDUSTRIES
Cryogenic Industries, Inc. (now a member of Nikkiso Co., Ltd.) member companies manufacture engineered cryogenic gas processing equipment and small-scale process plants for the liquefied natural gas (LNG), well services and industrial gas industries. Founded over 50 years ago, Cryogenic Industries is the parent company of ACD, Cosmodyne and Cryoquip and a commonly-controlled group of approximately 20 operating entities.

For more information, please visit www.nikkisoCEIG.com and www.nikkiso.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Anna Quigley
+1.951.383.3314
aquigley@cryoind.com

Teledyne e2v announces low-cost, high-performance quad linear CMOS sensor family

Teledyne e2v’s Tetra Sensor

Tetra CMOS sensors are ideal for industrial sorting applications

GRENOBLE, France, June 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Teledyne e2v, a Teledyne Technologies [NYSE: TDY] company and part of the Teledyne Imaging group, introduces Tetra, a low-cost, high-performance quad linear CMOS sensor family. The Tetra sensors are ideal for food sorting, recycling, logistics, pick-and-place, document scanning, and other machine vision applications that require cost-effective mono, color, and multispectral imaging.

Tetra sensors are available in a 2k resolution with a 14 μm x 14 μm pixel size, or 4k resolution with a 7 μm x 7 μm pixel size at a max line rate of 128kHz aggregate. The mono models can be configured to output one, two, or four rows and the color models provide RGB and mono outputs. Using wafer level coated dichroic filters, the sensor also provides spectrally independent RGB and NIR outputs for multispectral imaging.

Based on a synchronized shutter design, Tetra provide low read noise and high dynamic range with true correlated double sampling (CDS). Each channel has its own exposure control, resulting in easy-to-perform white balancing.

The ceramic LCC package also offers high performance and high reliability over a wide range of operating temperatures. The sensor data ports have high signal integrity and simple interfacing for quick system integration.

Florian Julien, Director of the Machine Vision Team at Teledyne e2v said, “The sorting industry has started to upgrade its traditional technology from color to multispectral imaging. With its unique RGB + NIR capability, Tetra has been designed as the next generation technology to enhance quality and safety in food sorting.”

Please visit the product page or contact us for more information.

Notes to Editors:
For media enquiries, please contact:
Jessica.Broom@teledyne.com

Teledyne e2v is part of the Teledyne Imaging Group. Their innovations lead developments in healthcare, life sciences, space, transportation, defense and security and industrial markets. Teledyne e2v’s unique approach involves listening to the market and application challenges of customers and partnering with them to provide innovative standard, semi-custom or fully custom imaging solutions, bringing increased value to their systems.

For more information, visit imaging.teledyne-e2v.com

Teledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge companies aligned under the Teledyne umbrella. Teledyne Imaging forms an unrivalled collective of expertise across the spectrum with decades of experience. Individually, each company offers best-in-class solutions. Together, they combine and leverage each other’s strengths to provide the deepest, widest imaging and related technology portfolio in the world. From aerospace through industrial inspection, scientific research, spectroscopy, radiography and radiotherapy, geospatial surveying, and advanced MEMS and semiconductor solutions, Teledyne Imaging offers world-wide customer support and the technical expertise to handle the toughest tasks. Their tools, technologies, and vision solutions are built to deliver to their customers a unique and competitive advantage.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5382ca84-0ca0-42f3-a353-f37006835df6

Zoom Hires Ricky Kapur as Head of APAC

Tech Industry Veteran to Lead Expansion of Zoom’s APAC Business

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced Ricky Kapur will join the company as the Head of APAC, effective June 21. Reporting directly to Zoom’s Head of International Abe Smith, Kapur will define and lead the company’s go-to-market strategy for key APAC markets: Australia and New Zealand, ASEAN, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Korea, and Taiwan — exclusive of Japan. Ricky will manage Zoom’s APAC business with supervision and alignment across all cross-functional roles.

Kapur comes to Zoom after five and a half years at Microsoft, where he was most recently Vice President of Sales and Marketing Operations for APAC. At Microsoft, he managed all segments, from SMB, Majors through Enterprise, and led a cross-functional team of sales, marketing, partner, and customer success professionals. Zoom is positioned for continued growth in APAC, and to capitalize on these new opportunities, it has expanded its leadership to lead the company through its next phase of expansion in the region.

“Zoom has scaled its operations and business impressively across APAC markets, announcing a Technology Center in India and a Research and Development Center in Singapore within the past year,” said Ricky Kapur, Head of APAC at Zoom. “I am excited to join a company that continues to redefine the way organizations and individuals connect, from breaking barriers for education and healthcare with virtual-learning and telehealth to becoming critical technology for enterprises as they quickly evolved and adapted to a hybrid working model.”

“We are thrilled to have Ricky Kapur lead our go-to-market strategy for all of APAC, a region where we are seeing accelerated growth,” said Abe Smith, Head of International at Zoom. “APAC is a critical region for Zoom, as we invest in infrastructure and expand the presence of our sales, marketing, and research and development teams to best enable organizations of all sizes with seamless and reliable video communications.”

About Ricky Kapur
Ricky Kapur is Head of APAC for Zoom, bringing over 25 years of experience to his role. Prior to joining Zoom, Kapur was Vice President of Sales and Marketing Operations at Microsoft APAC. In his role, he managed all segments, from SMB and Majors up to Enterprise and led a cross-functional team of Sales, Marketing, Partner and Customer Success and Operations professionals. Before joining Microsoft, Kapur served as Managing Director at Google where he was responsible for overseeing growth of Google Cloud Platform across APJ. Prior to that, Kapur held the position of Vice President, ASEAN Technology Sales at Oracle. He also worked at Siebel Systems, Unica Corporation, and Chordiant Software. Kapur is a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India and holds an MBA from the University of Melbourne.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.

Zoom Public Relations
Hayley Yap
APAC PR Lead
press@zoom.us

Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. ประกาศราคาเสนอขายหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์มูลค่า 125 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐฯ แก่สาธารณะ

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.,, June 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (SNCR) (ต่อไปนี้จะเรียกว่า “บริษัท” หรือ “Synchronoss”) ผู้นำระดับโลกและผู้สร้างนวัตกรรมด้านผลิตภัณฑ์และแพลตฟอร์มระบบคลาวด์ การรับส่งข้อความและดิจิทัล วันนี้ได้ประกาศกำหนดราคาเสนอขายหุ้นแก่ประชาชนทั่วไป 125 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐฯ เงินต้นรวมของหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์ 8.375% ที่จะครบกำหนดในปี 2026 รวมถึงการดำเนินการทั้งหมดโดยผู้จัดจำหน่ายหลักทรัพย์ของทางเลือกของผู้จัดจำหน่ายหลักทรัพย์ในการซื้อหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์รวมอีก 5 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐฯ ข้อเสนอนี้คาดว่าจะปิดลงในหรือประมาณวันที่ 30 มิถุนายน 2021 ขึ้นอยู่กับความพึงพอใจของเงื่อนไขการปิดตามธรรมเนียม

ทั้ง Synchronoss และหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์ได้รับการจัดอันดับ BB- จาก Egan-Jones Ratings Company ซึ่งเป็นหน่วยงานจัดอันดับอิสระที่ไม่เกี่ยวข้อง บริษัทได้จัดทำรายการหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์ในตลาด Nasdaq Global Select Market ภายใต้สัญลักษณ์ “SNCRL” และคาดว่าหุ้นดังกล่าวจะเริ่มซื้อขายภายใน 30 วันทำการนับจากวันที่ปิดการเสนอขาย หากได้รับอนุมัติ

หุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์ทั้งหมดที่เสนอขายจะถูกขายโดย Synchronoss Synchronoss คาดว่าจะใช้เงินสุทธิที่ได้จากการเสนอขายหุ้น และจากการเสนอขายหุ้นสามัญและการขายหุ้นบุริมสิทธิ Series B (ตามรายละเอียดด้านล่าง) เพื่อไถ่ถอนหุ้นที่จำหน่ายได้แล้วทั้งหมดของหุ้นบุริมสิทธิแบบถาวรที่เข้าร่วมโครงการ Series A ของ Synchronoss และชำระคืนตามวงเงินสินเชื่อหมุนเวียนของ Synchronoss

B. Riley Securities, Inc. (ต่อไปนี้จะเรียกว่า “BRS”) ทำหน้าที่เป็นผู้จัดการฝ่ายการจัดสรรหุ้นเพียงผู้เดียวสำหรับการเสนอขาย Northland Capital Markets, Aegis Capital Corp. และ EF Hutton ซึ่งเป็นแผนกหนึ่งของ Benchmark Investments, LLC ทำหน้าที่เป็นผู้จัดการหลักในการเสนอขาย

บริษัทจะเสนอขายหุ้นสามัญจำนวน 100 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐฯ ควบคู่ไปกับการเสนอขายนี้ โดยใช้หนังสือชี้ชวนฉบับเสริมแยกต่างหาก นอกจากนี้ B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC (“BRPI”) บริษัทในเครือของ BRS ได้ทำข้อตกลงตามที่ BRPI ได้ตกลงที่จะซื้อหุ้นบุริมสิทธิ Series B ของบริษัทจำนวน 75.0 ล้านเหรียญสหรัฐฯ ในการทำธุรกรรมส่วนตัวเพื่อให้เสร็จสิ้นพร้อมกับการปิดการเสนอขาย

Synchronoss ได้เสนอขายหุ้นที่ไม่ด้อยสิทธิ์ตามที่อธิบายไว้ข้างต้นตามแบบแสดงรายการข้อมูลการจดทะเบียนชั้นวาง (Shelf Registration) ในแบบฟอร์ม S-3 ที่ยื่นต่อสำนักงานคณะกรรมการกำกับหลักทรัพย์และตลาดหลักทรัพย์ (SEC) ก่อนหน้านี้ และประกาศให้มีผลโดยสำนักงาน SEC เมื่อวันที่ 28 สิงหาคม 2020 หนังสือชี้ชวนเบื้องต้นที่เกี่ยวข้องและอธิบายเงื่อนไขของการเสนอขายจะนำไปยื่นต่อ SEC และจะพร้อมให้ใช้งานในเว็บไซต์ของ SEC ที่ www.sec.gov เงื่อนไขสุดท้ายของการเสนอขายที่เสนอจะเปิดเผยในหนังสือชี้ชวนขั้นสุดท้ายที่จะยื่นต่อคณะกรรมการ SEC อาจขอสำเนาหนังสือชี้ชวนขั้นสุดท้าย (เมื่อมี) และหนังสือชี้ชวนประกอบที่เกี่ยวข้องกับหลักทรัพย์เหล่านี้โดยการส่งคำขอไปยัง: B. Riley Securities, Inc., at 1300 North 17th Street, Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22209 หรือโทร (703) 312‐9580 หรือส่งอีเมลไปที่ prospectuses@brileyfin.com

ข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์ฉบับนี้ไม่ถือเป็นการเสนอขายหรือการชักชวนให้ซื้อหลักทรัพย์ใดๆ เหล่านี้ และห้ามมีการขายหลักทรัพย์เหล่านี้ในรัฐหรือเขตอำนาจศาลใดๆ ที่การเสนอขาย การชักชวน หรือการขายดังกล่าวจะไม่ชอบด้วยกฎหมายก่อนการลงทะเบียนหรือคุณสมบัติตามกฎหมายหลักทรัพย์ของรัฐดังกล่าวหรือเขตอำนาจศาลอื่น

เกี่ยวกับ Synchronoss

Synchronoss Technologies (NASDAQ: SNCR) สร้างซอฟต์แวร์ที่ช่วยให้บริษัทต่างๆ ทั่วโลกเชื่อมต่อกับผู้ติดตามด้วยวิธีที่เชื่อถือได้และมีประสิทธิภาพ คอลเล็กชันผลิตภัณฑ์ของบริษัทช่วยให้เครือข่ายมีความคล่องตัว ลดความซับซ้อนของการเริ่มต้นใช้งาน และดึงดูดสมาชิกเพื่อเพิ่มกระแสรายได้ใหม่ ลดต้นทุน และเพิ่มความเร็วในการออกสู่ตลาด

แถลงการณ์ตามหลักอ่าวที่ปลอดภัย (Safe Harbor)

ข่าวเผยแพร่นี้มีข้อความเชิงคาดการณ์เหตุการณ์ในอนาคตตามความหมายของมาตรา 21E ของกฎหมายหลักทรัพย์ปี 1934 ซึ่งแก้ไขเพิ่มเติม ซึ่งรวมถึงแต่ไม่จำกัดเพียงข้อความเกี่ยวกับการปิดการเสนอขายหุ้นต่อสาธารณชนและการใช้เงินที่คาดว่าจะได้รับจากข้อมูลดังกล่าว ข้อความเชิงคาดการณ์เหตุการณ์ในอนาคตเหล่านี้อยู่ภายใต้ความเสี่ยงหลายประการ ซึ่งรวมถึงความพึงพอใจของเงื่อนไขการปิดตามธรรมเนียมที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการเสนอขายต่อสาธารณชน และปัจจัยเสี่ยงที่กำหนดไว้เป็นครั้งคราวในเอกสารที่ยื่นต่อ SEC ของ Synchronoss รวมถึงแต่ไม่จำกัดเฉพาะความเสี่ยงที่อธิบายไว้ในหัวข้อ “ปัจจัยเสี่ยง” และ “การอภิปรายและการวิเคราะห์สภาพทางการเงินและผลการดำเนินงานของฝ่ายจัดการ” (ตามความเหมาะสม) ของรายงานประจำปีของ Synchronoss ในแบบฟอร์ม 10-K สำหรับปีที่สิ้นสุดในเดือนธันวาคม วันที่ 31 มีนาคม 2020 และรายงานรายไตรมาสในแบบฟอร์ม 10-Q สำหรับรอบระยะเวลาสิ้นสุดวันที่ 31 มีนาคม 2021 ซึ่งอยู่ในไฟล์กับ SEC และมีอยู่ในเว็บไซต์ของ SEC ที่ www.sec.gov นอกเหนือจากความเสี่ยงที่อธิบายไว้ข้างต้นและในเอกสารอื่นๆ ของ Synchronoss ที่ยื่นต่อ SEC แล้ว ปัจจัยอื่นๆ ที่ไม่ทราบหรือคาดเดาไม่ได้ก็อาจส่งผลต่อผลลัพธ์ของ Synchronoss ได้เช่นกัน ข้อความเชิงคาดการณ์เหตุการณ์ในอนาคตไม่สามารถรับประกันได้ และผลลัพธ์ที่แท้จริงอาจแตกต่างอย่างมากจากข้อความดังกล่าว ข้อมูลในข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์นี้มีให้ ณ วันที่ของข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์นี้เท่านั้น และ Synchronoss ไม่มีภาระผูกพันในการปรับปรุงข้อความเชิงคาดการณ์เหตุการณ์ในอนาคตใดๆ ที่มีอยู่ในข่าวประชาสัมพันธ์นี้เนื่องจากข้อมูลใหม่ เหตุการณ์ในอนาคต หรือปัจจัยอื่น ยกเว้นตามที่กฎหมายกำหนด

สื่อ

Diane Rose
CCgroup
diane@ccgrouppr.com

นักลงทุน

Todd Kehrli/Joo-Hun Kim
MKR Investor Relations, Inc.
investor@synchronoss.com

The Globe and Mail’s Sophi.io Wins Digiday Media Award

Digiday awards Best Publisher Platform to Sophi.io, a suite of artificial intelligence-powered automation, optimization and prediction tools developed by The Globe and Mail

TORONTO, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophi.io, The Globe and Mail’s artificial intelligence-based automation and prediction engine, won the 2021 Digiday Media Award for Best Publisher Platform, which recognizes technology that is most successful in helping publishers achieve their goals.

“AI is an essential technology for helping publishers add authentic value to stories — extending their measure of success beyond page views and virality. For example, Sophi is able to provide data on how much each article on The Globe and Mail contributes to subscriber retention, acquisition, registration potential and advertising dollars. Additionally, to effectively deploy machine learning, around 10% of The Globe and Mail’s workforce is now data scientists and engineers, hired to develop Sophi and grow the strategy even further,” Digiday said.

The awards honour companies, technologies and campaigns that have stood out throughout the media over the past year. “This year, the competition was fierce and the programs robust. Innovation and big ideas expanded the playing field for many of the winners, even in a year when quarantines limited where and how people could work — and play,” according to Digiday.

Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail, commented: “It’s an honour to be chosen as the winner of Digiday’s Media Award for Best Publisher Platform. We aren’t often up against companies in both the media and marketing industries but our investments in Sophi have been driven by the understanding that our technology can directly drive performance and economic growth for companies across a large range of industries.”

The other finalists in the Best Publisher Platform category were: Piano, Connatix, Insticator, Duration Media and Adapex LLC.

Sophi is an artificial-intelligence system that helps publishers identify and leverage their most valuable content. It has powerful predictive capabilities – using natural language processing, Sophi Dynamic Paywall is a fully dynamic, real-time, personalized paywall engine that analyses both content and user behaviour to determine when to ask a reader for money or an email address, and when to leave them alone.

Sophi Site Automation autonomously curates digital content to find and promote the most valuable articles. It places 99% of the content on all of The Globe and Mail’s digital pages, including its homepage and section pages. Sophi has been so successful that it is now being used for print laydown as well. Sophi is available to publishers across the globe to enable their content producers to focus on creating the best content possible.

Earlier this month, Sophi won the 2021 International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards for Best in Show in North America and Best Use of Data to Automate or Personalize. Sophi has also won the Online Journalism Award (OJA) for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism, handed out by the Online News Association (ONA), and both the World Digital Media Award and the North American Digital Media Award awarded by The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in the category of Best Digital News Start-up.

About Sophi.io

Sophi.io (https://www.sophi.io) is a suite of AI-powered optimization and prediction tools that helps content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. Sophi solutions range from Sophi Site Automation and Sophi for Paywalls to Sophi Analytics, a decision-support system for content publishers. Sophi is designed to improve the metrics that matter most to any business, such as subscriber retention and acquisition, engagement, recency, frequency and volume.

Contact

Jamie Rubenovitch
Head of Marketing, Sophi.io
The Globe and Mail
416-585-3355
jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com

Interview: ‘I Was in the Same Living Hell I Had Heard About’

On March 9, Myanmar junta soldiers raided the office of Kamayut Media in Yangon, arresting the online news outlet’s co-founders, Nathan Maung, 45, and Han Thar Nyein, 40. Maung, Kamayut’s editor-in-chief, and Hanthar Nyein, a news producer, were held at a military interrogation center in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, before being moved to Insein Prison, the country’s main detention facility for political prisoners. They were charged with “dissemination of information or ‘fake news’ that could agitate or cause security forces or officials to mutiny,” an offence which carries a maximum three-year prison term. Maung was released after charges against him were dropped and his case dismissed, and deported to the United States on June 14. Khin Khin Ei spoke to Maung about his suffering during three months in notorious Insein Prison, and his feelings about getting released due to his U.S. citizenship, while his colleague Hanthar Nyein remains incarcerated. The following Q&A has been translated from Burmese to English and edited for length.

RFA: We have learned that you were tortured during detention. How bad was it?

Nathan Maung: It was really horrible during 15 days of interrogation. It was hard to put these experiences into words. It was very cruel. After they arrested me at my office, they took me to Yey Kyi Eai interrogation center. There, two soldiers dragged me by my arms into the facility. I don’t know where they took me. They put me in a room. They asked me my name, age and father’s name. They had my producer Hanthar Nyein beside me handcuffed behind his back on his knees on the floor. They hit and kicked him on the floor. He repeatedly cried ‘I am just a journalist’. They yelled ‘Is that you, journalist?’ or ‘This is for broadcasting fake news’ and kept hitting and kicking him. I knew they would turn to me any minute. After five minutes, they dragged me to another compound. They put me in the living room of a home. There was a chair and a small table. I was handcuffed, blindfolded and in a hood. They interrogated me at that place for three and a half days. They didn’t let me sleep. They took shifts to interrogate me continuously, and two or three authorities came every two hours. They didn’t give me drinking water for three days. I begged them for water as I got so thirsty, but they refused. They gave me a small amount of water on the third day. After three and a half days, they gave me a meal.

When they gave me the meal, I understood that I would not be killed. I was relieved that I would live. In those three days, they punched me in the face, head and shoulder and kicked me during the interrogations. The worst is they slapped my ears with both hands. They did this repeatedly to me–five or six times during each interrogation session. When the interrogators changed every two hours, the new ones did the same.

I had been tortured in that way. But my fellow inmate Hanthar Nyein has been tortured even more brutally. They punched and kicked him as they asked for his mobile phone password. They put his feet in a big ice tub for hours. He was in the sitting position and they told him to sit still. If he moved, they beat him. They took off his shirt and burned his chest with cigarettes. Finally, they stripped him naked and threatened to rape him. Then, Hanthar Nyein gave up, and gave them his mobile phone password.

But the torture didn’t end for him. After he gave up his password, they found the people he contacted and the photos taken with politicians and other journalists. They beat him, showing his photos together with Aung San Suu Kyi and saying offensive things against her…As far as I know, they stopped beating him after five days of interrogation.

RFA: What did they interrogate you about? And how did you answer?

Nathan Maung: In the first four days, while I had been tortured, they mostly asked about my past, where I was born, which schools I attended and which college I attended. I told them I was a college student and participated in 1996-97 college student demonstrations. I went to the Thailand border area in 1999. I applied for refugee status at UNHCR in Thailand. In 2004, I got a chance to travel to the U.S. and I arrived in the U.S. in 2005. I went to college and graduated in the U.S. I returned to Thailand in 2010. I worked as a contributor to RFA’s Burmese Service for a year. Then I returned to Myanmar and established Kamayut Media. They interrogated me about these activities meticulously and cross questioned many ways in the first four days. They learned that I am a U.S. citizen only after these interrogation sessions. They asked me to recite my passport number. I don’t remember it by heart. They punched me for that. They frankly asked me how I feed information to the U.S. government. I told them I am not from the CIA. I told them if they are trying to frame me as a CIA agent, this is wrong. None of the government agencies give us funding. It would be obvious if I received funding. When they could not establish that I was a secret agent, they moved on to interrogating the sources of funding for my Kamayut Media agency. They interrogated me on details on how much I receive for the agency every month, who are the sponsors, and how much I spent on staff. I had to explain the statistics of the past ten years in two or three days. They interrogated Hanthar Nyein for the same information and they cross-checked with the information they got from me. If there were discrepancies, they beat us. There might be some inaccuracies in numbers. We didn’t have these numbers in hand. Luckily, the information we give them in general matched each other. So they stopped interrogating us on the eighth day.

RFA: Were you together with your colleague Hanthar Nyein?

Nathan Maung: They put us in separate rooms during the interrogation. We could not see each other. They moved me to at least five different locations during 15 days of detention. I think they did the same to him. On the 15th day, when they released me, they drove us out of Yey Kyi Eai interrogation center in the same vehicle. When they transferred me to police in Aung Tha Byay interrogation center, I learned that Hanthar Nyein was also brought along. They put us in separate cells there. I was so relieved to know that we were both alive.

RFA: Did you see or hear other people being tortured during interrogations?

Nathan Maung: In separate prison at the interrogation center (don’t know which one), there were at least 2,000 people who were detained for political reasons. They put around 80 detainees in a single hall. We could stroll around the building when they opened our cell doors. So we got the chance to interact with other detainees and asked about their experiences. They told us about their experiences in Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center. There, if the detainees have no injuries, they are put into a separate group and beaten so they have injuries. From around March 24-27, we saw new groups of as many as 50 detainees coming in every day. On April 5, they took me out of that prison and put me in solitary confinement at the main prison. Hanthar was left in that other prison. After a month, they sent him to the main prison. We were in solitary confinement with other political prisoners.

RFA: Why do you think they released you?

Nathan Maung: I think it is the result of the U.S. government trying various channels to secure the release of a U.S. citizen. In addition, Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of State, visited Thailand. She called for the release of me, Hanthar Nyein and (others). I heard that ASEAN delegations who visited Naypyitaw also pressured the authorities for our release.

RFA: What do you think about how the authorities treat the detainees?

Nathan Maung: I thought they would shoot and kill me in my office. I begged them not to shoot. I keep in mind that, in Yey Kyi Eai, I could be killed at any time. I heard the stories of living hell during detention thirty years ago from senior politicians. I know I was in the same living hell I had heard about. So I tried to remain calm and prepared. I tried to meditate as I was tortured and tried to free my mind, although my body was in detention. The degree of brutality I have seen is the same as in the 1988, 1996 and 2007 protests. They have been doing this to the minority groups in border areas all the time. It’s only that millions of people who live in central Myanmar don’t know that. Now they have spread the brutality to the streets and neighborhoods of cities like Yangon and Mandalay. It is no surprise to us. But we need to make them known to the world. This fascist military regime has been exempt from punishment. We need to end them. Otherwise, it will lead to more horrific crimes.

Copyright © 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036

Myanmar Junta Gains Hold on Jade Profits as Fighting Flares

BANGKOK – The military takeover in Myanmar has given the junta full control of the country’s lucrative and conflict-ridden jade mining, providing it with profits and leverage for consolidating power, researchers said Tuesday.

A flareup in fighting around the mines in Hpakant, in remote Kachin state, also is adding to instability in the border region, independent research group Global Witness said in its report.

Army and ethnic guerrilla forces have been fighting in Kachin for years. But they had largely cooperated to share in profits from mining of the world’s richest jade deposits, making the industry a hotbed for corruption instead of a national asset that could be invested for the public good.

Global Witness estimates the annual losses in the tens of millions of dollars. It and other experts say the Feb. 1 coup has disrupted the de facto ceasefire that had held around the mines, with fighting breaking out even in the jade-producing zone.

“It’s an extremely unstable situation where the rule of law is just completely broken down,” Keel Dietz, one of the report’s authors, told The Associated Press.

The civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi made halting progress in cleaning up the industry after taking power in 2016. It suspended issuing or renewing jade mining permits. A new law restricts licenses to a maximum of three years, adding to the incentive to mine illicitly and as quickly as possible.

Now the military, known as the Tatmadaw, controls who can mine and who can’t and can dole out licenses to buy loyalty and try to splinter rival groups, Dietz said.

Global Witness and other groups are calling for stronger sanctions against the junta to help counter what has become a free-for-all rush to dig out as much of the precious stone as possible.

“It is up to the international community to limit the amount of funding the military can receive from selling Myanmar’s natural resources by preventing the import of those resources and blocking financial transactions that pay for them,” the report says.

In an earlier report, Global Witness documented how the industry is dominated by networks of military elites, drug lords and crony companies. The situation has barely changed, those familiar with the region say.

That has created incentives for both sides in the conflict to maximize production, at a huge cost to the environment. Nearly a half-million people migrate into the region to work in the mines or to pick through mine tailings, hunting for stones that might have valuable jade inside. Hundreds of have died from landslides on the unstable slopes of the open-pit mines.

Profits from the industry are seized by those controlling the mines and trade routes.

“Jade probably has been the military’s most lucrative sector except petroleum. Other mining like copper has made them a lot of money too. Rare earths less so, although not insignificant,” said Edith Mirante, director of Project Maje, which researches Myanmar’s environmental issues.

The U.S. government and United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise, on key military-controlled companies, military leaders, their family members and other companies either controlled by or linked to the army.

The potential impact of sanctions against the gemstone industry is limited, however, since nearly all jade and a large share of other precious stones and pearls produced in Myanmar go to China, often through illicit channels.

Many of the mining operations are conducted by Chinese companies allied with Myanmar partners. Over the decades, the military have often extracted huge revenues from mining while the Kachin have arrangements to tax smuggling routes into China, the destination for most of the jade mined in the region.

Now, with people in Kachin protesting against the coup, antagonisms are deepening, said David Dapice, an expert on Southeast Asia at Harvard University’s Ash Center.

“A lot of fighting is over the share of who gets what,” with none of those involved prepared to trust each other, he said in an email. “The military has circled the wagons anyway and is not in a compromising mood.”

At times in the past, fighting has spilled over the border, killing or injuring Chinese civilians. But the graver, longer term problem is lawlessness, a breakdown in the rule of law that “has the potential to supercharge other illegal activities, such as narcotics production and animal trafficking, that the Chinese government is likely more concerned about than it is about jade,” Dietz said.

“Instability breeds instability and I think that’s really important especially for the Chinese government to understand. This is a disaster brewing right on their border,” he said.

Source: Voice of America