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AdTheorent Set to Go Private in $324 Million Cadent Acquisition

Posted on April 1, 2024April 1, 2024 by slightbourne@noblecapitalmarkets.com

Investors in the adtech company AdTheorent Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTH) are set to receive a nice premium with the company’s announced acquisition by Cadent, LLC for $3.21 per share in cash.

The $324 million deal represents a 17% premium to AdTheorent’s 60-day volume-weighted average price and a 27% premium to its 90-day average as of March 28th. Upon completion of the transaction in the expected third quarter of 2024, AdTheorent will become a privately-held company under Cadent’s ownership.

Cadent is a leading provider of converged TV advertising solutions and is a portfolio company of the private equity firm Novacap. The combination allows Cadent to bolt-on AdTheorent’s machine learning advertising platform and technology.

For AdTheorent shareholders, the all-cash deal provides an attractive exit opportunity to cash out at a premium valuation. The company’s stock had traded between $2.15 and $3.35 over the past 52 weeks before the deal announcement sent shares surging over 40%.

AdTheorent’s board unanimously approved the transaction, stating that it “delivers immediate, certain and significant value” for shareholders. The company had gone public around two years ago, and CEO James Lawson noted that “the transaction validates the actions and investments we have made” positioning AdTheorent since then.

While the $3.21 per share price looks enticing for investors, AdTheorent did negotiate a 33-day “go-shop” period into the merger agreement. This allows the company’s advisors to actively solicit and consider superior proposals from other potential buyers through May 4th.

There is no guarantee that a better offer will emerge during the go-shop period. However, major AdTheorent shareholders controlling approximately 40% of the outstanding shares, including H.I.G. Growth Partners and company insiders, have already agreed to vote in favor of the Cadent transaction.

Unless a substantially higher bid comes in, the deal is expected to close in Q3 2024 after gaining AdTheorent shareholder approval and clearing regulatory hurdles including antitrust review.

For investors in AdTheorent, the timelines and deal certainty are important considerations. The deal with Cadent provides a unique opportunity to cash out at a premium valuation in the near-term. Alternatively, rejecting the deal leaves some possibility of a higher-priced acquisition down the road balanced against AdTheorent’s prospects and challenges operating independently.

The adtech sector has experienced significant volatility and compression in valuations over the past couple of years. In that context, AdTheorent’s ability to secure an all-cash transaction at a premium multiple could be viewed as a prudent move by the company’s board and leadership team.

As the “go-shop” period plays out over the next month, investors will be watching closely to see if any interloper emerges to potentially drive up the acquisition price for AdTheorent. But barring a topper bid, AdTheorent shareholders can likely bank on cashing in their stakes at a nice premium to recent trading prices before the company debuts as a Cadent subsidiary later this year.

Release – Direct Digital Holdings Announces Rescheduling of Fourth Quarter and FY 2023 Financial Results Release and Conference Call

Posted on March 20, 2024March 21, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on DRCT

March 20, 2024 4:01 pm EDT

HOUSTON, March 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) (“Direct Digital Holdings” or the “Company”), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC (“Colossus SSP”), Huddled Masses LLC (“Huddled Masses”) and Orange142, LLC (“Orange142”), today announced that the earnings call originally scheduled for March 21, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET will be postponed to March 26, 2024 at 5:00 PM ET to provide additional time to complete the audit of its financial statements.

For further information, please contact investors@directdigitalholdings.com.

About Direct Digital Holdings
Direct Digital Holdings (Nasdaq: DRCT), owner of operating companies Colossus SSP, Huddled Masses, and Orange 142, brings state-of-the-art sell- and buy-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company. Direct Digital Holdings’ sell-side platform, Colossus SSP, offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within general market and multicultural media properties. The Company’s subsidiaries Huddled Masses and Orange142 deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions at scale for businesses in sectors that range from energy to healthcare to travel to financial services. Direct Digital Holdings’ sell- and buy-side solutions manage on average over 125,000 clients monthly, generating over 300 billion impressions per month across display, CTV, in-app and other media channels.

Contacts:

Investors:
Brett Milotte, ICR
investors@directdigitalholdings.com

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SOURCE Direct Digital Holdings

Released March 20, 2024

Release – AdTheorent Wins 2024 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award

Posted on March 20, 2024March 21, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on ADTH

Mar 20, 2024

Company honored for AdTheorent Predictive Audiences, Built by ABi^™

NEW YORK, March 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AdTheorent Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADTH), a machine learning pioneer using privacy-forward solutions to deliver measurable value for programmatic advertisers, today announced that it has been selected by Business Intelligence Group (B.I.G.) as a winner of the 2024 AI Excellence Awards for its AI-based technology innovation. This annual business awards program recognizes organizations, products, and people that are leveraging AI technology to solve real world problems. AdTheorent was recognized for its groundbreaking ID-independent audience targeting solutions: AdTheorent Predictive Audiences, built by ABi^™.

AdTheorent Predictive Audiences are an ID-independent and algorithm-based method for audience creation and targeting. AdTheorent’s Predictive Audience Builder, or ABi^™ is a transformational suite of platform tools designed to enable users to create and activate predictive models which score audience quality. ABi^™ leverages customizable and primary-sourced seed data sets to mimic the audience profile of an advertiser’s desired target. In a major departure from industry-standard audience segments, that seed data set is not used for direct targeting. Instead AdTheorent’s machine-learning platform reads signals from those data sets to build a predictive model which scores programmatic inventory based on its likelihood to reach an individual who meets the desired audience profile. This privacy-forward predictive scoring delivers superior audience quality and KPI performance, without the use of cookies or IDs of any kind. When AdTheorent Predictive Audiences are deployed in platform to enhance AdTheorent’s KPI-based impression scoring, the result is a superior level of privacy-forward data-driven accuracy and accountability.

AdTheorent also offers a Health Audience solution, powered by HABi™, which is also ID-independent and not built on or sourced from individualized information, including user browsing activity or observed user location. Rather, HABi™-built Health Audiences are based on anonymized and deidentified datasets constituting over 30 billion records across more than 300 million unique U.S. patients.

“AdTheorent is not new to the AI and machine learning opportunity – we have been refining advanced ML-based solutions since 2012. We remain committed to building and enhancing the most advanced and differentiated machine learning-powered advertising technology and solutions ever deployed in market,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of AdTheorent. “AdTheorent is driving superior performance for our advertisers without the need for cookies – and we sincerely thank the B.I.G. Artificial Intelligence Award judges for this valuable recognition.”

“We are truly honored to recognize AdTheorent with this prestigious award,” stated Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer for the Business Intelligence Group. “The unwavering commitment of the AdTheorent team to excellence, and their innovative AI-based products and solutions have catapulted them to this remarkable achievement. Congratulations to the entire organization!”

For more information about AdTheorent Predictive Audiences, click here. For more information about the B.I.G. AI Excellence awards, click here.

About AdTheorent
AdTheorent (Nasdaq: ADTH) uses advanced machine learning technology and privacy-forward solutions to deliver impactful advertising campaigns for marketers. AdTheorent’s machine learning-powered media buying platform powers its predictive targeting, predictive audiences, geo-intelligence, audience extension solutions and in-house creative capability, Studio A\T. Leveraging only non-sensitive data and focused on the predictive value of machine learning models, AdTheorent’s product suite and flexible transaction models allow advertisers to identify the most qualified potential consumers coupled with the optimal creative experience to deliver superior results, measured by each advertiser’s real-world business goals.

AdTheorent is consistently recognized with numerous technology, product, growth and workplace awards. AdTheorent was named “Best Buy-Side Programmatic Platform” in the 2023 Digiday Technology Awards and was honored with an AI Breakthrough Award and “Most Innovative Product” (B.I.G. Innovation Awards) for five consecutive years. Additionally, AdTheorent is the only seven-time recipient of Frost & Sullivan’s “Digital Advertising Leadership Award.” AdTheorent is headquartered in New York, with fourteen locations across the United States and Canada. For more information, visit adtheorent.com.

About Business Intelligence Group www.bintelligence.com
The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry award programs, these programs are judged by business executives having experience and knowledge. The organization’s proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.

Contact:
Melanie Berger, AdTheorent
850-567-0082
melanie@adtheorent.com

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SOURCE AdTheorent

Release – Harte Hanks Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2023 Full-Year Results

Posted on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on HHS

Project “Elevate” Sales and Marketing Transformation Revamped for Strategic Growth;
Anticipate approximately $6 Million in 2024 Cost Reductions, $16 Million over Two Years;
Ends Year with $18 Million of Cash and No Debt

CHELMSFORD, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 14, 2024 / Harte Hanks, Inc. (NASDAQ:HHS), a leading global customer experience company focused on bringing companies closer to customers for over 100 years, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

Kirk Davis, Chief Executive Officer, said: “ Project Elevate , the outcome of a comprehensive review of our business in collaboration with newly hired executive sales leadership and respected consultants, is designed to modernize our go-to-market strategy, invest in lead generation, and enable organic growth. We have added two experienced sales leaders in Kelly Waller, our new SVP of sales and marketing, and Ron Lee, our new SVP of sales services. These two accomplished sales executives are the ideal people to drive the key components of our organic growth initiatives forward. More recently, we added additional experienced personnel to lead international sales expansion, grow our newly created partner network, and form our company’s first inside sales division. These talented people are in place, and we are rapidly improving our marketing programs, value proposition, and pipeline formulation to effectively capitalize on our core competencies and key differentiators.”

“Over the next few quarters, we will be expanding our enterprise-wide revenue pipeline, participating in numerous high-profile events that facilitate one-to-one meetings with decision makers, and growing a robust partnership network,” continued Davis. “These initiatives are bolstered by a revised incentive structure for our sales team, better alignment between business units, and a clear focus on the SMB and mid-market segments. We expect these changes will drive consistent pipeline growth and enhance our sales performance over the course of the year. We’ve accomplished an end-to-end transformation of our sales and marketing strategy and structure, and the team is now in place to drive organic growth.”

“Simultaneously, we are taking steps, in collaboration with the Kearney Organization, to optimize our cost structure to enable us to invest in sales and marketing without depleting our cash reserves,” continued Davis. “We have identified costs we can eliminate totaling approximately $16 million over next two years with $6 million of savings expected in 2024. David Fisher, our new Chief Transformation Officer, is working closely with David Garrison, our new Chief Financial Officer, to execute these important changes.”

“I believe the opportunity for Harte Hanks is significant,” concluded Davis. “Our solutions meet the current and expected needs of customers, and we drive tangible value for clients and their customers. We can deliver organic growth, expanding the number of logos we work with and deepening our relationship with these customers over time. We are confident that we can streamline our organization to expand profitability and cash generation as we grow. The benefits of Project Elevate are expected to become evident in the second half of 2024 and into 2025.”

Fourth Quarter Highlights

The Company ended the year with a cash balance of $18.4 million compared to $10.4 million at December 31, 2022, and $13.3 million at September 30, 2023, with zero debt.
Extended the current $25 million line of credit until June 30, 2025.
Executing, as planned, the termination of Pension Plan 1.
Total revenues for Q4 2023 were $49.5 million, down 9.7% compared to $54.8 million in Q4 2022; included in 2023 was $2.5 million of revenue from InsideOut compared to $1.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Operating loss was $2.3 million compared to operating income of $3.4 million in the prior-year quarter.
Harte Hanks recorded $5.7 million in non-recurring restructuring charges, related primarily to consulting expenses tied to the development and execution of Project Elevate and other cost-reduction initiatives, as well as severance and lease impairment charges. There were no restructuring charges in the fourth quarter of last year.
Net loss, inclusive of the $5.7 million in restructuring charges, was $2.0 million, or $0.27 per basic and diluted share, compared to net income of $21.8 million, or $2.81 per basic and $2.70 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter. The fourth quarter of 2022 included a $19.8 million tax benefit.
The fourth quarter of 2023 had negative EBITDA of $1.1 million compared to positive EBITDA of $4.4 million in the same period in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes stock-based compensation, severance and restructuring charges, was $5.2 million in both Q4 2023 and 2022.

Segment Highlights

Customer Care, $17.7 million in revenue, 36% of total – Segment revenue increased $1.0 million or 6.0% versus the prior year and EBITDA totaled $3.7 million for the quarter, up 14.6% year-over-year. InsideOut contributed an increase of $1.4 million to revenue in the fouth quarter compared to same quarter in 2022. The increase in revenue from the sales services group offset the $0.4 million decrease in our traditional CX business.
Fulfillment & Logistics Services, $21.3 million in revenue, 43% of total – Segment revenue decreased $3.2 million or 12.9% versus the prior year quarter and EBITDA totaled $1.9 million, down 17.2%. Revenue mix and a 12.2% decrease in operating expenses drove the improved EBITDA margins. The margin percentage continues to be impacted by variation in the revenue mix between lower margin logistics and the higher margin fulfillment services.
Marketing Services, $10.5 million in revenue, 21% of total – Segment revenue decreased $3.1 million or 23.1% compared to the prior year quarter and EBITDA for the fourth quarter totaled $1.4 million vs. $2.1 million. The decrease in revenue was attributable to reduced project work in the financial services sector.

Consolidated Fourth Quarter 2023 Results

Fourth quarter revenues were $49.5 million, down 9.7% from $54.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to decreased revenue in two of the Company’s operating segments.

Fourth quarter operating loss was $2.3 million, compared to income of $3.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The decrease resulted from a restructuring expense during the quarter.

Net loss for the quarter was $2.0 million, or $0.27 per basic and diluted share, compared to net income of $21.8 million, or $2.81 per basic and $2.70 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter last year. The net loss included $5.7 million of restructuring expense, without which the Net Income is estimated to be $3.7 million for the quarter. The net income for the fourth quarter of 2022 included a one time tax asset valuation reversal benefiting more than $19.8 million, without this the net income would have only been $2.0 million. Discounting for the two events in the respective fourth quarters, the estimated net income improvement was $1.7 million.

Consolidated Full Year 2023 Results

Full-year revenues were $191.5 million, down 7.2% from $206.3 million in 2022. Operating income was $3.4 million, compared to operating income of $15.1 million. Net loss for the year was $1.6 million, or $0.21 per basic and $0.21 per diluted share, compared to net income of $36.8 million, or $4.98 per basic and $4.75 per diluted share, last year.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

Harte Hanks ended the year with $18.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and $24.2 million of capacity on its credit line. The Company has no outstanding debt as of December 31, 2023. The Company’s financial position continues to be strong, and it is well-positioned to execute on its long-term growth strategies in 2024 and beyond.

Conference Call Information

The Company will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss these results at 4:30 p.m. EST today, March 14, 2024. Interested parties may access the webcast at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2810/49883 or may access the conference call by dialing 888-506-0062 in the United States or 973-528-0011 from outside the U.S. and using access code 692780.

A replay of the call can also be accessed via phone through March 28, 2024 by dialing (877) 481-4010 from the U.S., or (919) 882-2331 from outside the U.S. The conference call replay passcode is 49883.

About Harte Hanks:

Harte Hanks (NASDAQ: HHS ) is a leading global customer experience company whose mission is to partner with clients to provide them with CX strategy, data-driven analytics and actionable insights combined with seamless program execution to better understand, attract and engage their customers.

Using its unparalleled resources and award-winning talent in the areas of Customer Care, Fulfillment and Logistics, and Marketing Services, Harte Hanks has a proven track record of driving results for some of the world’s premier brands, including Bank of America, GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever, Pfizer, HBOMax, Volvo, Ford, FedEx, Midea, Sony and IBM among others. Headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Harte Hanks has over 2,500 employees in offices across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

For more information, visit hartehanks.com

As used herein, “Harte Hanks” or “the Company” refers to Harte Hanks, Inc. and/or its applicable operating subsidiaries, as the context may require. Harte Hanks’ logo and name are trademarks of Harte Hanks, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Our press release and related earnings conference call contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws. All such statements are qualified by this cautionary note, provided pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements other than historical facts are forward-looking and may be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “estimates,” “seeks,” “could,” “intends,” or words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on current information, expectations and estimates and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. In that event, our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity could be materially adversely affected and investors in our securities could lose part or all of their investments. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors include: (a) local, national and international economic and business conditions, including (i) market conditions that may adversely impact marketing expenditures, and (ii) the impact of economic environments and competitive pressures on the financial condition, marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospects; (iii) the demand for our products and services by clients and prospective clients, including (iv) the willingness of existing clients to maintain or increase their spending on products and services that are or remain profitable for us, and (vi) our ability to predict changes in client needs and preferences; (b) economic and other business factors that impact the industry verticals we serve, including competition, inflation and consolidation of current and prospective clients, vendors and partners in these verticals; (c) our ability to manage and timely adjust our facilities, capacity, workforce and cost structure to effectively serve our clients; (d) our ability to improve our processes and to provide new products and services in a timely and cost-effective manner though development, license, partnership or acquisition; (e) our ability to protect our facilities against security breaches and other interruptions and to protect sensitive personal information of our clients and their customers; (f) our ability to respond to increasing concern, regulation and legal action over consumer privacy issues, including changing requirements for collection, processing and use of information; (g) the impact of privacy and other regulations, including restrictions on unsolicited marketing communications and other consumer protection laws; (h) fluctuations in fuel prices, paper prices, postal rates and postal delivery schedules; (i) the number of shares, if any, that we may repurchase in connection with our repurchase program; (j) unanticipated developments regarding litigation or other contingent liabilities; (k) our ability to complete reorganizations, including cost-saving initiatives; and (l) other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 which was filed on March 31, 2023. The forward-looking statements in this press release and our related earnings conference call are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future.

Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

The Company reports its financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). However, the Company may use certain non-GAAP measures of financial performance in order to provide investors with a better understanding of operating results and underlying trends to assess the Company’s performance and liquidity in this press release and our related earnings conference call. We have presented herein a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

The Company presents the non-GAAP financial measure “Adjusted Operating Income” as a useful measure to both management and investors in their analysis of the Company’s financial results because it facilitates a period-to-period comparison of Operating Income excluding stock-based compensation and severance. The most directly comparable measure for this non-GAAP financial measure is Operating Income.

The Company presents the non-GAAP financial measure “EBITDA” as a supplemental measure of operating performance in order to provide an improved understanding of underlying performance trends. The Company defines “EBITDA” as Net Income adjusted to exclude income tax expense, other expense (income), net, and depreciation and amortization expense. The Company defines “Adjusted EBITDA” as EBITDA adjusted to exclude stock-based compensation and severance. The most directly comparable measure for EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is Net Income. We believe EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are an important performance metric because it facilitates the analysis of our results, exclusive of certain non-cash items, including items which do not directly correlate to our business operations; however, we urge investors to review the reconciliation of non-GAAP EBITDA to the comparable GAAP Net Income, which is included in this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate the Company’s financial performance.

The use of non-GAAP measures do not serve as a substitute and should not be construed as a substitute for GAAP performance but should provide supplemental information concerning our performance that our investors and we find useful. The Company evaluates its operating performance based on several measures, including these non-GAAP financial measures. The Company believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures in this press release and earnings conference call presentations are useful supplemental financial measures of operating performance for investors because they facilitate investors’ ability to evaluate the operational strength of the Company’s business. However, there are limitations to the use of these non-GAAP measures, including that they may not be calculated the same by other companies in our industry limiting their use as a tool to compare results. Any supplemental non-GAAP financial measures referred to herein are not calculated in accordance with GAAP and they should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

Investor Relations Contact:

Rob Fink or Tom Baumann
646.809.4048 / 646.349.6641
FNK IR
HHS@fnkir.com

View full release here.

SOURCE: Harte Hanks, Inc.

Release – Direct Digital Holdings to Report Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2023 Financial Results

Posted on March 1, 2024March 1, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on DRCT

February 29, 2024 4:01 pm EST

HOUSTON, Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) (“Direct Digital Holdings” or the “Company”), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC (“Colossus SSP”), Huddled Masses LLC (“Huddled Masses”) and Orange142, LLC (“Orange142”), today announced that the Company will report financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 ended December 31, 2023 on Thursday, March 21, 2024 after the U.S. stock market closes.

Management will host a conference call and webcast on the same day at 5:00 PM ET to discuss the results. The live webcast and replay can be accessed at https://ir.directdigitalholdings.com/.

Contacts:
Brett Milotte, ICR
investors@directdigitalholdings.com

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SOURCE Direct Digital Holdings

Released February 29, 2024

Release – Direct Digital Holdings Partners with FreeWheel

Posted on February 28, 2024February 28, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on DRCT

February 28, 2024 9:00 am EST

Integration Between Holding Group’s Colossus SSP and FreeWheel to Provide Enhanced Connections to Demand to Increase Ability for Advertisers to Reach Audiences at Scale on CTV

HOUSTON and NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) (“Direct Digital Holdings” or the “Company”), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC (“Colossus SSP”), Huddled Masses LLC (“Huddled Masses”) and Orange 142, LLC (“Orange 142”), announced a new partnership with FreeWheel, a global technology platform for the television advertising industry.

The agreement builds on Direct Digital Holdings’ buy- and sell-side relationship with Beeswax, FreeWheel’s programmatic buying platform.

This new deal will allow the holding group’s Colossus SSP to directly connect to FreeWheel’s premium CTV inventory and server technology. Colossus SSP provides brands with access to a truly inclusive audience, tapping into a range of multicultural/diverse publishers and general market media – and this partnership will open pathways to top-tier CTV inventory for both. The partnership will bring together expertise, resources, cutting-edge technology, and robust content to drive demand from top advertisers.

“This agreement will significantly grow the high-quality CTV inventory available through Colossus SSP,” said Mark D. Walker, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman at Direct Digital Holdings. “FreeWheel is able to unify all demand channels into one optimal ad decision to maximize the end-viewer experience. Their capabilities complement the performance, efficiencies and transparency that brands and media buyers have come to value at Colossus SSP.”

“Today’s TV ad marketplace is very fragmented and complex, and so, one of our key focus areas is to continually find new ways to simplify and streamline the ad buying process,” said Katy Loria, Chief Revenue Officer, FreeWheel. “We recognize today’s consumers increasingly gravitate towards CTV and our audiences are becoming more diverse. It is our hope that, by teaming up with Colossus SSP, we can help connect publishers to multicultural audiences – at scale – on premium content.”

“We have worked collaboratively with both Colossus SSP and FreeWheel, and we’re excited to tap into their new partnership as they continue to diversify and scale their collective offerings,” said Michael Piner, EVP, Advanced Advertising, Mediahub. “High-quality CTV inventory is a top priority for our clients, and this partnership will deliver that while expanding our ability to reach robust, diverse audiences through a diverse-owned partner.”

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and which are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties.

As used below, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Direct Digital Holdings. We use words such as “could,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “expect,” “likely,” “believe,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project” and other similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but not all forward-looking statements include these words. All statements contained in this release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements.

All of our forward-looking statements involve estimates and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that we have made in light of our industry experience and our perceptions of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, many factors could affect our actual operating and financial performance and cause our performance to differ materially from the performance expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: our dependence on the overall demand for advertising, which could be influenced by economic downturns; any slow-down or unanticipated development in the market for programmatic advertising campaigns; the effects of health epidemics, such as the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic; operational and performance issues with our platform, whether real or perceived, including a failure to respond to technological changes or to upgrade our technology systems; any significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential and/or personal information we hold, or of the security of our or our customers’, suppliers’ or other partners’ computer systems; any unavailability or non-performance of the non-proprietary technology, software, products and services that we use; unfavorable publicity and negative public perception about our industry, particularly concerns regarding data privacy and security relating to our industry’s technology and practices, and any perceived failure to comply with laws and industry self-regulation; restrictions on the use of third-party “cookies,” mobile device IDs or other tracking technologies, which could diminish our platform’s effectiveness; any inability to compete in our intensely competitive market; any significant fluctuations caused by our high customer concentration; any violation of legal and regulatory requirements or any misconduct by our employees, subcontractors, agents or business partners; any strain on our resources, diversion of our management’s attention or impact on our ability to attract and retain qualified board members as a result of being a public company; our dependence, as a holding company, of receiving distributions from Direct Digital Holdings, LLC to pay our taxes, expenses and dividends; and other factors and assumptions discussed in the “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” and other sections of our filings with the SEC that we make from time to time. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should any of these assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual operating and financial performance may vary in material respects from the performance projected in these forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances, and we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

About FreeWheel
FreeWheel empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. With offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit freewheel.com, and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

Media Contacts:

Direct Digital Holdings:
press@directdigitalholdings.com

FreeWheel:
Elaine Wong
elaine_wong@comcast.com

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SOURCE Direct Digital Holdings

Released February 28, 2024

Release – AdTheorent Launches Point™, a Suite of Machine Learning-Powered Geo-Intelligence Solutions Designed to Drive Increased Performance for Advertisers

Posted on February 27, 2024February 27, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on ADTH

Feb 27, 2024

PDF Version

AdTheorent utilizes precise location data for visitation modeling, location-based targeting,
and deterministic measurement

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AdTheorent Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADTH), a machine learning pioneer and industry leader using privacy-forward solutions to deliver measurable value for programmatic advertisers today announced the launch of Point™, a suite of proprietary machine learning-powered geo-intelligence solutions designed to drive real world visitation performance for advertisers. Point is fully integrated into the AdTheorent platform, offering advertisers a seamless way to activate, optimize, and measure the efficacy of their advertising campaigns.

Point delivers differentiated geo capabilities enabled by the industry’s most advanced machine learning foundation:

AdTheorent’s Point of Interest (POI) Capability: The AdTheorent platform enables advanced location targeting by points of interest locations. AdTheorent has access to more than 29 million consumer-focused points of interest that span across more than 17,000 business categories. POI categories include: shops, dining, recreation, sports, accommodation, education, retail banking, government entities, health and transportation. AdTheorent’s POI capability is fully integrated and embedded into the platform, giving users the ability to select and target a highly customized set of POIs (e.g., all Starbucks locations in New York City) within minutes.
Point’s Targeting Suite, Powered by Machine Learning: AdTheorent’s machine learning-powered geo-intelligence solutions allow advertisers to leverage precise location data in highly differentiated ways. Point’s targeting capabilities include:
- Omnichannel Geo-Targeting: AdTheorent can target by country, state, city, DMA, or zip code and only serves ads to those within the specified geo that have the highest likelihood of converting, as measured by AdTheorent predictive models.
- POI Location Targeting and Retargeting: can be leveraged to reach customers near a brand’s location, or customers who have visited a brand or competitive brand’s location within a customizable period of time.
- AdTheorent Predictive Audiences: in addition to the multitude of custom inputs that can be incorporated into AdTheorent ID-independent audiences, proprietary visitation patterns can be used to inform advanced audience quality algorithms.
- Custom Machine Learning KPI Models: all AdTheorent campaigns utilizing Point have performance models built upon visitation and location data, ensuring the attainment of important client KPIs, such as visits, cost per visit, and incremental lift.
Point’s Visitation Reporting: AdTheorent offers deterministic visitation reporting to quantify the impact of AdTheorent campaigns. Reporting metrics include: total visits, visitation rate, cost per visit, standard visitation lift and incremental lift. Unlike most solutions, AdTheorent can measure and report on visitation by individual POI location or nationally.

“AdTheorent’s Point is a differentiated and powerful suite of geo-intelligence solutions that provides advertisers with endless applications of location-based data – whether to drive incremental visits to a specific set of locations, or to use location data to build ID-independent customized Predictive Audiences,” said Jim Lawson, CEO of AdTheorent. “Most importantly, all of these applications are enabled by AdTheorent’s proprietary machine learning technology, which drives superior performance for advertisers.”

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SOURCE AdTheorent

Melanie Berger, AdTheorent, melanie@adtheorent.com, 850-567-0082

Release – Harte Hanks to Report Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results on March 14, 2024

Posted on February 22, 2024February 22, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on HHS

Thursday, 22 February 2024 08:00 AM

CHELMSFORD, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 22, 2024 / Harte Hanks, Inc. (NASDAQ:HHS), a leading global customer experience company focused on bringing companies closer to customers for over 100 years, announced today that the company will release financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023 period ended December 31, 2023 on Thursday, March 14, 2024 after the close of the market.

The Company will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss these results at 4:30 p.m. EST on the same day. Interested parties may access the webcast at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2810/49883or may access the conference call by dialing 888-506-0062 in the United States or 973-528-0011 from outside the U.S. and using access code 692780.

About Harte Hanks:

Harte Hanks (NASDAQ: HHS) is a leading global customer experience company whose mission is to partner with clients to provide them with CX strategy, data-driven analytics and actionable insights combined with seamless program execution to better understand, attract and engage their customers.

For more information, visit hartehanks.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Rob Fink or Tom Baumann
646.809.4048 / 646.349.6641
FNK IR
HHS@fnkir.com

SOURCE: Harte Hanks, Inc.

Release – SHE Media Launches Strategic Partnership with Direct Digital Holdings’ Colossus SSP to Increase Advertiser Access to a Powerful Female Audience

Posted on February 15, 2024February 15, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on DRCT

February 15, 2024 8:00 am EST

Colossus SSP’s Inclusive Marketplace Approach to Further Advance SHE Media’s Work in Fueling Growth of Women-Owned & Diverse-Owned Properties

HOUSTON and NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) (“Direct Digital Holdings” or the “Company”), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC (“Colossus SSP”), Huddled Masses, LLC (“Huddled Masses”) and Orange142, LLC (“Orange142”), announced today that SHE Media, the top 10 lifestyle media group that includes SheKnows, Flow Space, StyleCaster, Soaps and BlogHer, has selected Colossus SSP as a new supply-side platform partner. Colossus SSP has a strong track-record in connecting advertisers with a truly inclusive audience, at scale, tapping into a range of multicultural / diverse publishers, as well as top-tier general market media.

Colossus SSP will serve as a programmatic exchange sell-side partner for SHE Media’s flagship brands and other properties, all of which are focused on providing useful and inspiring high-quality content for women, reaching a total audience of 74+ million users per month[1]. Key to the partnership, Colossus SSP will provide access to inventory across SHE Media’s Meaningful Marketplaces – a robust community of independent, premium, women-owned and diverse-owned publishers that SHE Media assists with monetization, operations and educational services.

“The tens of millions of women that visit SHE Media properties and engage with its content are a tremendous asset to advertisers across category sectors,” said Mark D. Walker, CEO and Co-Founder, Direct Digital Holdings. “Not only do women represent more than half of the U.S. population, they are responsible for 85 percent of the day-to-day spending decisions and 80 percent of all healthcare choices for the family. Partnering with SHE Media will open Colossus SSP’s pipeline of advertisers to this valuable audience. In addition, it’s an honor to work with a company that also champions inclusivity across the media and marketing ecosystem.”

“SHE Media’s strategic partnership with Direct Digital Holding’s Colossus SSP will further solidify both companies’ deep-seated commitment to the economic growth of women-owned and diverse-owned media,” said Kate Calabrese, SVP, Media Solutions, SHE Media. “This integration will deliver an additional pathway to match advertisers with both the audiences they intend to reach and with the independent publishers whose businesses they are dedicated to support.”

“We are excited to be working with SHE Media because it is such a perfect fit for Colossus SSP. Their dynamic female-focused content and coveted female audience are very much aligned with the needs of the advertisers that we serve,” added Lashawnda Goffin, CEO, Colossus SSP.

About SHE Media
As a top 10 lifestyle media company reaching 74+ million monthly visitors, SHE Media focuses on the power of content and community to move our culture forward. SHE Media believes that media companies can and should be a force for good in the world. The company’s rich editorial ranges from health, food, and family to career and entertainment. SHE Media’s flagship brands, SheKnows, Flow Space, StyleCaster, Soaps and BlogHer, produce award-winning lifestyle content and events that reflect the passion and purpose of the company. In addition to the flagship brands, the SHE Media Collective supports thousands of independent publishers and content creators with technology, education, and monetization opportunities to grow their businesses.

SHE Media has a longstanding commitment to the advancement of equity and inclusion through media. In 2021, SHE Media launched Meaningful Marketplaces enabling advertisers to buy media at scale from a community of women and minority-owned publishers, ensuring that independent media receives the economic support to thrive. SHE Media is also dedicated to advancing women’s health. In 2023, SHE Media launched Flow Space, an all-new digital and live media platform providing content, community, and commerce in service of women’s whole life health. Part of Penske Media Corporation (PMC), SHE Media is based in New York, with offices in Los Angeles. Follow SHE Media on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contacts

For Direct Digital Holdings:
press@directdigitalholdings.com

For SHE Media:
Brooke Jaffe, SVP Public Affairs & Strategy, bjaffe@pmc.com
Abby Kalicka, Senior Director of Communications, akalicka@pmc.com

¹ (Source: ComScore, SHE Media Multiplatform Key Measures March 2023)

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SOURCE Direct Digital Holdings

Released February 15, 2024

Bowlero (BOWL) – Rolled Another Solid Quarter

Posted on February 6, 2024February 6, 2024 by cpereira@noblefcm.com

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Bowlero Corp. is the worldwide leader in bowling entertainment, media, and events. With more than 300 bowling centers across North America, Bowlero Corp. serves more than 26 million guests each year through a family of brands that includes Bowlero, Bowlmor Lanes, and AMF. In 2019, Bowlero Corp. acquired the Professional Bowlers Association, the major league of bowling, which boasts thousands of members and millions of fans across the globe. For more information on Bowlero Corp., please visit BowleroCorp.com.

Michael Kupinski, Director of Research, Equity Research Analyst, Digital, Media & Technology , Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Jacob Mutchler, Research Associate, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Solid Q2 results. The company reported Q2 revenue of $305.7 million, beating our estimate of $295.5 million by 3.4%.. Adj. EBITDA of $103.1 million was 3.6% higher than our estimate of $99.5 million. Notably, acquisitions and new builds contributed $41 million of revenue in the quarter and event revenue was up over 30% from the prior year period.

Expanding growth initiatives. Management highlighted the company’s increased investment guidance for 2024. Notably, $190.0 million is allocated for acquisitions, up from $160.0 million, and $80.0 million is allocated to conversions, up from $75.0 million. Additionally, $40.0 million is allocated to new builds and $45.0 million in maintenance expenditures are expected in 2024. We view the company’s increased investment favorably.

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This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary. Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision.

Release – Varsha Tomar and Luke Kenny Join Harte Hanks in Senior Sales Roles

Posted on February 5, 2024February 5, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on HHS

CHELMSFORD, MA / ACCESSWIRE / February 5, 2024 / Harte Hanks, Inc. (NASDAQ:HHS), a leading global customer experience company focused on bringing companies closer to customers for 100 years, today announced the appointment of two senior executives to newly-created roles reporting to Kelly Waller, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Varsha Tomar was named Vice President, Partnerships, and will oversee the identification, cultivation, and management of strategic B2B sales partnerships that will enable Harte Hanks to drive incremental revenue. She will oversee joint alliances, resellers/white labelers of Harte Hanks services and manage a team of Inside Partner Account Managers. Ms. Tomar joins Harte Hanks from HealthEquity, where she was Director of Business Operations after previously serving as Global Head of Go-To-Market Strategy for Finastra.

Luke Kenny was named Sr. Director of International Sales and Client Expansion. Based in Portugal, Mr. Kenny has nearly two decades of experience as a sales director and demand generation expert across EMEA and APAC for B2B organizations, including Finastra and FIS. At Harte Hanks, he will focus on sales as well as supporting and growing business from existing European clients. He is also tasked with overseeing the growth of the sales teams throughout the region. Harte Hanks has offices in the UK, Romania and Belgium.

“As we continue to implement our transformation growth plan, these two strategic hires will help us meet our goals of expanding our sales and marketing organization routes to market and expanding our global footprint,” commented Ms. Waller.

About Harte Hanks:

Harte Hanks (NASDAQ:HHS) is a leading global customer experience company whose mission is to partner with clients to provide them with CX strategy, data-driven analytics and actionable insights combined with seamless program execution to better understand, attract and engage their customers.

For more information, visit hartehanks.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements discussed in this release as well as in other reports, materials and oral statements that the Company releases from time to time to the public may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Generally, words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “believe,” “plan,” “target,” “forecast” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward- looking statements. Such forward-looking statements concern management’s expectations, strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated economic performance and financial condition and other similar matters. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected by the management of the Company. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual events or results may differ significantly from these statements. Given these risk factors, investors and analysts should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are made. The Company disclaims any obligation or undertaking to provide any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which the forward-looking statement is based, except as required by law. It is advisable, however, to consult any further disclosures the Company makes in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K (if any). These statements constitute the Company’s cautionary statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: Jen.London@hartehanks.com

SOURCE: Harte Hanks, Inc.

Release – Harte Hanks Strengthens Senior Leadership Team

Posted on January 30, 2024January 30, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on HHS

January 29, 2024 8:00 AM

David Garrison named permanent Chief Financial Officer
David Fisher Named Chief Transformation Officer

Harte Hanks, Inc. (NASDAQ: HHS), a leading global customer experience company focused on bringing companies closer to customers for 100 years, today announced that David Garrison, an experienced finance executive with more than 20 years of public company CFO experience currently serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer, has been named as Harte Hanks’ permanent Chief Financial Officer effective January 29, 2024. In addition, David Fisher, an accomplished executive with over 25 years of experience focused on strategic initiatives, cost structure transformation, financial planning and analysis, has been named Chief Transformation Officer.

Garrison, who joined Harte Hanks in an interim capacity in October, 2023, brings notable expertise in cost containment, streamlining operations, and ERP implementations. He joins Harte Hanks from Digital Lumens Incorporated, an IoT lighting fixture and factory automation technology company that was spun out of Osram Sylvania, where he served as CFO for the last two years. As part of this role, he was instrumental in selling a product line to a strategic buyer and selling the remaining operating entity to a foreign company. Previously, he spent three years as Chief Financial Officer for Sensera, Inc., an Australian listed medical and IoT technology company, where he played an important role in turning around operations to facilitate a sale. Previously, he served as Managing Director of IW Ventures LLC, a financial consultant, and TTcogen LLC, a joint venture between Tecogen Inc. and Tedom a.s. From 2014 to 2017, Garrison served as CFO of Tecogen Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company that designs, manufactures and sells industrial and commercial cogeneration systems, where he supported growth with cost controls to drive margin expansion and profitability. He has an MBA from Boston University and has led several Greater Boston-based companies through successful growth-driven integrations, transactions, and implementations.

Fisher has been consulting for Harte Hanks since March of 2023, most recently leading the Company’s engagement with the Kearney organization. He will now lead the execution of Project Elevate, Harte Hanks’ transformation and modernization initiative. He brings expertise in strategic initiatives, cost transformation, financial planning & analysis, accounting, strategic sourcing, procurement and risk management. He joined Harte Hanks from Tribune Publishing, where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer. Previously, he was SVP of Corporate Finance & Planning, and VP of Corporate Development at Tribune. Before that, he served as SVP of Finance for Source Interlink, and was an Assurance Manager for BDO USA, LLP. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting/business management from the Wisconsin School of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

“We continue to enhance our senior leadership team with modern skillsets to advance our ‘Project Elevate’ initiative. We are well underway on an end-to-end transformation of our business,” said Kirk Davis, Chief Executive Officer . “David Garrison has proven his value in a short period of time, advancing our ERP and cost containment efforts while advancing digital initiatives to streamline processes and modernize our business.

“David Fisher and I have enjoyed prior success in working with the Kearney organization. We have accelerated our transformation commitment and see compelling growth and optimization opportunities ahead as we execute our plan. I’m heartened by our entire senior team’s commitment to becoming a more profitable and growth-focused organization. These two appointments, in conjunction with the recent appointment of Kelly Waller as our new SVP, Sales and Marketing, and other senior team members, have us well positioned for 2024.”

About Harte Hanks:

For more information, visit hartehanks.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Our press release and related earnings conference call contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws. All such statements are qualified by this cautionary note, provided pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements other than historical facts are forward-looking and may be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “estimates,” “seeks,” “could,” “intends,” or words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements are based on current information, expectations and estimates and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. In that event, our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity could be materially adversely affected and investors in our securities could lose part or all of their investments. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors include: (a) local, national and international economic and business conditions, including (i) the outbreak of diseases, such as the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has curtailed travel to and from certain countries and geographic regions, created supply chain disruption and shortages, disrupted business operations and reduced consumer spending, (ii) market conditions that may adversely impact marketing expenditures, (iii) the impact of the Russia/Ukraine conflict on the global economy and our business, including impacts from related sanctions and export controls and (iv) the impact of economic environments and competitive pressures on the financial condition, marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospects; (b) the demand for our products and services by clients and prospective clients, including (i) the willingness of existing clients to maintain or increase their spending on products and services that are or remain profitable for us, and (ii) our ability to predict changes in client needs and preferences; (c) economic and other business factors that impact the industry verticals we serve, including competition and consolidation of current and prospective clients, vendors and partners in these verticals; (d) our ability to manage and timely adjust our facilities, capacity, workforce and cost structure to effectively serve our clients; (e) our ability to improve our processes and to provide new products and services in a timely and cost-effective manner though development, license, partnership or acquisition; (f) our ability to protect our facilities against security breaches and other interruptions and to protect sensitive personal information of our clients and their customers; (g) our ability to respond to increasing concern, regulation and legal action over consumer privacy issues, including changing requirements for collection, processing and use of information; (h) the impact of privacy and other regulations, including restrictions on unsolicited marketing communications and other consumer protection laws; (i) fluctuations in fuel prices, paper prices, postal rates and postal delivery schedules; (j) the number of shares, if any, that we may repurchase in connection with our repurchase program; (k) unanticipated developments regarding litigation or other contingent liabilities; (l) our ability to complete anticipated divestitures and reorganizations, including cost-saving initiatives; (m) our ability to realize the expected tax refunds; and (n) other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 which was filed on March 31, 2023. The forward-looking statements in this press release and our related earnings conference call are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240129195380/en/

Investor Relations Contact:
Rob Fink or Tom Baumann
646.809.4048 / 646.349.6641
FNK IR
HHS@fnkir.com

Release – Xcel Brands Co-Founds ORME, A Next Generation Short-Form Video Marketplace

Posted on January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 by aweinsoff@channelchek.com

Research News and Market Data on XELB

January 24, 2024 at 5:00 PM EST

Xcel Brands owns 30% of ORME

ORME was created to reward customers for interacting with brands and retailers

NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Xcel Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: XELB) (“Xcel” or the “Company”), a media and consumer products company with expertise in livestream shopping and social commerce, today announced its 30% investment in ORME, a groundbreaking short-form video (SFV) marketplace designed to revolutionize social commerce.

“ORME is an opportunity with unicorn potential,” said Robert W. D’Loren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Xcel. “ORME is redefining how consumers interact with brands and products, creating a seamless and engaging shopping experience that provides a nearly infinite return on ad spend for brands and gives all shoppers an opportunity to participate in the retail commerce flywheel.”

Faisal Ahmed, CEO of ORME, Inc., highlighted, “ORME is more than a marketplace; it is a community where social sharing and referral incentives include and reward shoppers and influencers. This feature not only amplifies brand content but also offers fee earning potential through referrals, leveraging the power of social networks and word-of-mouth marketing.”

ORME is set to transform the retail model from a one-to-many to a many-to-many experience. Combining the best aspects of affiliate, influencer, and digital marketing into a performance-based model, ORME presents a whole new experience for shoppers, influencers, brands, and retailers.

For shoppers and influencers, ORME creates a unique environment where they can create fun content, tell inspiring stories, learn from authentic people, explore an array of products in fashion, beauty, home, pet, and wellness sectors, and even earn performance-based cash fees for sharing content. For brands and retailers, ORME offers free, simple, and fast integration with all e-commerce platforms and an easy, efficient, and controlled content creation process. The platform also boasts a personalized AI-powered content and product recommendation engine, a style chatbot, and a content editor filter.

ORME aims to solve the issues with low conversion rates with affiliate, influencer and digital marketing, and the lack of an end-to-end SFV platform in the US. According to McKinsey & Company, on average, 28% of video shopping leads are converted into sales, a statistic that ORME plans to capitalize on.

The SFV and social commerce market is growing rapidly. Affiliate and banner marketing is a $12 billion market globally, with video shopping projected to be a $35 billion market in the US in 2024. Social media influencer marketing spend by brands was around $16.4 billion in 2022 and is increasing at a rate of 18.8% per annum.

About Xcel Brands

Xcel Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: XELB) is a media and consumer products company engaged in the design, marketing, live streaming, social commerce sales of branded apparel, footwear, accessories, fine jewelry, home goods and other consumer products, and the acquisition of dynamic consumer lifestyle brands. Xcel was founded in 2011 with a vision to reimagine shopping, entertainment, and social media as one thing. Xcel owns the Judith Ripka, Halston, LOGO by Lori Goldstein, and C. Wonder by Christian Siriano brands and a minority stake in the Isaac Mizrahi brand. It also owns and manages the Longaberger brand through its controlling interest in Longaberger Licensing LLC and a 50% interest in a JV in TWRHLL (“Tower Hill”) by Christie Brinkley. Xcel is pioneering a true modern consumer products sales strategy which includes the promotion and sale of products under its brands through interactive television, digital live-stream shopping, social commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, and e-commerce channels to be everywhere its customer’s shop. The company’s brands have generated in excess of $4 billion in retail sales via livestreaming in interactive television and digital channels alone. Headquartered in New York City, Xcel Brands is led by an executive team with significant live streaming, production, merchandising, design, marketing, retailing, and licensing experience, and a proven track record of success in elevating branded consumer products companies. www.xcelbrands.com.

About ORME

ORME is based in New York and is a next generation short form video marketplace inspiring our users through honest and authentic content created by shoppers, creators, influencers and brands wherever they create, watch, listen, connect and socialize in the digital universe. ORME was cofounded by Xcel Brands and KonnectBio, Inc.

ORME is committed to evolving through innovations in technology including the major application of AI, making deep connections with our users and community and providing opportunity to all in the retail commerce flywheel. ORME makes the everyday shopper a paid influencer. www.ormelive.com

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including statements regarding future events, our future financial performance, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “ongoing,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “appears,” “suggests,” “future,” “likely,” “goal,” “plans,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “seeks,” “should,” “would,” “guidance,” “confident” or “will” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our anticipated revenue, expenses, profitability, strategic plans and capital needs. These statements are based on information available to us on the date hereof and our current expectations, estimates and projections and are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks discussed in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in the Company’s Annual Report on form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and its other filings with the SEC, which may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risk factors, nor can we address the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason.

For further information please contact:

Dave Gentry, CEO
RedChip Companies Inc.
407-491-4498
XELB@redchip.com

Source: Xcel Brands, Inc