2020 Women and Investing Study: Confidence and Concerns for Female Investors

2020 Women and Investing Study: Confidence and Concerns for Female Investors

New J.P. Morgan research finds that most affluent Black and Latinx women are confident about their financial goals looking ahead and were more likely to seize investment opportunities this year.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The pandemic has had negative impacts on investments for most affluent women this year, according to new research from J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. But affluent Black and Latinx female investors were more likely to take matters into their own hands, seize opportunities presented by market volatility and feel confident about their goals.

The J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Women and Investing Study reviewed the investing habits of affluent women in 2020. The survey polled women across races and took a deeper look to examine the factors that help Black and Latinx women build lasting wealth.

“Women are already the majority in controlling wealth and that number will only grow,” said Kristin Lemkau, CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management in the U.S. “We see a huge opportunity to help women build their wealth for the long term – however they choose to do it. And that starts by actually listening to them.”

Despite being more confident than their white counterparts about their financial future, more than half of affluent Black and Latinx women surveyed said they faced more challenges to investing, including finding financial advice that fits their needs. And they were more likely to financially support friends and family in 2020.

“Closing the racial and gender wealth gaps demands work across communities,” said Byna Elliott, Head of Advancing Black Pathways for JPMorgan Chase. “What’s interesting to me about this study is that Black girls get a clear head start on building wealth when their parents talk to them about money and set up a savings or investing account.”

The survey polled 1,375 women investors with at least $150,000 in investable assets in October 2020.

Most affluent Black and Latinx women found their own path to investing

The study includes the following significant findings about investing behaviors:

  • 19% of affluent Black and Latinx women surveyed started investing in 2020 to capitalize on this year’s market volatility, compared to 5% of affluent white women.
  • 75% said they were confident about their financial goals looking ahead to the next 12 months, compared to 50% of white counterparts.
  • When starting to invest, 78% of affluent Black and Latinx women used self-directed educational resources, including online educational resources, apps or TV shows, compared to 47% of affluent white women.
  • 55% of affluent Black and Latinx women agree that investing is more challenging for people of their race.
  • 62% felt confident about achieving their financial goals when they started investing.

When asked what challenges or barriers affluent Black and Latinx women faced that made it difficult to start investing, 30% cited too much debt, compared to 22% of affluent white women. When they first became investors, 21% noted that services did not fit their needs or they had a bad experience, compared to 7% of their white counterparts.

In addition, nearly 30% of affluent Black and Latinx women financially supported friends and family in 2020, compared to 11% of affluent white women.

“We have to appreciate how experience, education, wealth level and family dynamics impact a person’s view on investing,” said Dr. Kelli Keough, Head of Digital & Client Solutions at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. “It’s clear affluent Black and Latinx women are working harder to sustain their wealth, but they’re also confident about their financial futures.”

Financial education helped Black and Latinx women make smarter financial decisions

The findings also show a correlation between education and inherited wealth and current financial decisions:

  • 84% of affluent Black and Latinx women had savings or investment accounts established for them as a child.
  • 61% reported that their parents or caregivers discussed the importance of investing when they were growing up.
  • 68% of affluent Black and Latinx women make monthly contributions to their investments as adults.

Among all affluent women regardless of race, 60% had parents or caregivers who invested their own money, and 55% recall hearing or being a part of family discussions about investing as children. Among those who recall these discussions, 61% say the conversations were positive. Of all affluent women, 45% say they felt confident in their ability to achieve their investment goals when first starting to invest, and when asked what impacted their confidence, 12% said it stemmed from what they had learned about investing and advice received from parents or other family members.

Looking Beyond Affluent Communities

While this study examined affluent women, making progress in the racial and gender wealth gap still demands a lot more work across communities. Economic challenges for people of color stretch far beyond investing: according to past research from the JPMorgan Chase Institute, Black and Latinx families have 32 and 47 cents in liquid assets for every dollar held by white families. In addition, homeownership rates are 25% lower for Black and Latinx families and, as rents continue to rise, Black and Latinx households are more likely to be cost-burdened than white households.

To learn more about the J.P. Morgan Wealth Management survey findings, visit: https://www.chase.com/personal/investments/learning-and-insights/article/women-and-investing. To learn more about JPMorgan Chase’s work for communities of color visit The Path Forward.

Methodology

The 2020 Women and Investing Study was an online survey of 1,375 women investors (779 White/Caucasian and 596 Women of Color). J.P. Morgan Wealth Management was not identified as the survey sponsor. The survey was conducted during the month of October 2020. Respondents were identified as having primary or shared responsibility for their households financial and investment decisions. All participants confirmed investable asset levels of $150K to $5M+.

About J.P. Morgan Wealth Management

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is the U.S. wealth management business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.2 trillion and operations worldwide. J.P. Morgan Wealth Management has ~4,400 advisors and ~$530 billion assets under supervision. Customers can choose how and where they want to invest. They can do it digitally, remotely, or in person meeting with an advisor in one of our Chase 3,500 branches throughout the U.S., or scheduling a meeting with a J.P. Morgan Advisor in one of our 21 offices. For more information, go to www.jpmorganwealthmanagement.com.

INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS ARE: • NOT FDIC INSURED • NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY • NOT A DEPOSIT OR OTHER OBLIGATION OF, OR GUARANTEED BY, JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES • SUBJECT TO INVESTMENT RISKS, INCLUDING POSSIBLE LOSS OF THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT INVESTED

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Michaela Nichols

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KEYWORDS: New York United States North America

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Consulting Banking Professional Services Other Consumer Health Women Infectious Diseases Other Professional Services Consumer Human Resources Finance

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WaterMill Asset Management Issues Statement Regarding Consent Solicitation at Ziopharm Oncology

WaterMill Asset Management Issues Statement Regarding Consent Solicitation at Ziopharm Oncology

Highlights That Holders of More Than 50% of Ziopharm’s Outstanding Shares Consented to Adding Each of WaterMill’s Director Candidates

Thanks Shareholders for Significant Support and Reaffirms Commitment to Always Doing What is Best for Ziopharm

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
WaterMill Asset Management Corp. (together with its affiliates, “WaterMill” or “we”), a sizable and long-term shareholder of Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIOP) (“Ziopharm” or the “Company”), today announced that it received the requisite number of written consents to add all three of its director candidates – Robert Postma, Jaime Vieser and Holger Weis – to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”). Although each member of WaterMill’s slate received support from holders of more than 50% of Ziopharm’s outstanding shares, only Messrs. Vieser and Weis are able to join as directors due to the Company’s Board currently being capped at eight members. WaterMill also received the requisite number of consents to remove Scott Tariff from the Board.

Robert Postma, principal and founder of WaterMill, commented:

“We are pleased that Jaime and Holger have joined Ziopharm’s Board at this critical point in time. Jaime’s capital allocation acumen, ownership perspectives and turnaround experience will be tremendous assets in the boardroom. Holger’s c-level background in the life sciences sector, commercial intensity and finance expertise will also be extremely helpful in the pivotal months to come. They are fully committed to putting this contest behind them and immediately helping the Board chart the right path forward. Now that nearly 40% of the Board has been refreshed in recent weeks, Ziopharm should be well-positioned to begin enhancing its corporate governance and prioritizing strategic initiatives that are most likely to create meaningful near-term value for shareholders, providers and patients.”

Mr. Postma concluded:

“WaterMill also wants to take this opportunity to thank its fellow shareholders for their incredibly thoughtful engagement throughout this process. While we anticipate that many supportive shareholders will be disappointed that our full slate is not joining the Board at this time, WaterMill is constructively engaging with Ziopharm to try to ensure that the message sent by a critical mass of investors is respected. WaterMill remains committed to always doing what is best for Ziopharm.”

For Investors:

Saratoga Proxy Consulting

John Ferguson / Joe Mills, 212-257-1311

[email protected] / [email protected]

For Media:

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Greg Marose / Charlotte Kiaie, 347-343-2999

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F5 Welcomes Haiyan Song as Executive Vice President of Security

F5 Welcomes Haiyan Song as Executive Vice President of Security

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) today announced that Haiyan Song will be joining the company as Executive Vice President of Security, starting January 4, 2021. Song joins F5 from Splunk where she led the Security business as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Security Markets. Song will build on F5’s position as the second-largest global application security player, with over $750 million in security revenues, and drive the company’s next phase of growth in security.

“Haiyan is an industry thought leader and visionary with extensive cybersecurity and SaaS experience, including a track record of helping to grow Splunk’s Security business from $100 million to over $1 billion (USD),” said François Locoh-Donou, President and CEO of F5. “By 2023, our addressable opportunity within the application security market is expected to reach $15 billion, growing from $8 billion today. Haiyan’s industry knowledge, data analytics background, and deep domain expertise in security will support our efforts to capture this growth by securing every app anywhere as our customers adapt to their changing environments.”

In her more than 20-year career, Song has held several leadership positions, including Vice President and General Manager at HP ArcSight, Vice President of Engineering at ArcSight, and Vice President of Engineering at SenSage. Haiyan started her career at IBM/Informix, building trusted regional database management systems for Federal customers.

Song also currently serves on the board of CSG, a provider of revenue management and digital payments. Haiyan also served on the board of LLamasoft, an AI-powered supply chain analytics software company that was acquired by Coupa in November 2020. She holds an M.S. from Florida Atlantic University and studied Computer Science in Tsinghua University in China.

She will be based out of F5’s San Jose location.

About F5

F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) is a multi-cloud application security and delivery company that enables our customers—which include the world’s largest enterprises, financial institutions, service providers, and governments—to bring extraordinary digital experiences to life. For more information, go to F5.com. You can also follow @F5 on Twitter or visit us on LinkedIn and Facebook for more information about F5, its partners, and technologies.

F5 is a trademark or service mark of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE: F5 Networks

Rob Gruening

Director, Corporate Communications

F5

(206) 272-6208

[email protected]

Suzanne DuLong

VP, Investor Relations

F5

(206) 272-7049

[email protected]

Holly Lancaster

WE Communications

(415) 547-7054

[email protected]

KEYWORDS: Washington United States North America

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Software Networks Internet Hardware Data Management Technology Mobile/Wireless Security

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California American Water Offers Customer Assistance Program to Customers in Hillview, El Rio and Fruitridge Vista Systems

California American Water Offers Customer Assistance Program to Customers in Hillview, El Rio and Fruitridge Vista Systems

SACRAMENTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
California American Water takes great pride in our ability to provide safe reliable water and wastewater services. These services are essential and affordability is key. In order to support the affordability of water service for residential customers, California American Water offers a Customer Assistance Program that provides discounts of 20 to 30 percent for essential service to customers who earn 200 percent or less of the Federal Poverty Level.

While this discount is available for the vast majority of our residential customers, some customers in new acquired systems have not had immediate access to these programs. Given the severity of the economic downturn that accompanied the COVID – 19 pandemic, the company sought and received approval to extend its Customer Assistance Program to residents in three newly acquired systems in Sacramento (Fruitridge Vista), Madera (Hillview) and Ventura (Rio Plaza). This approval extends the availability of the program to approximately 6,000 new residential customers.

“Essential service should be available to everyone served by California American Water,” said California American Water President Rich Svindland. “I’m proud of our leadership on affordability and pleased we can extend financial help to families and seniors who are suffering as a result of the pandemic. In these trying times, our water service is critical for health and sanitation.”

Residential customers in the three newly acquired systems became eligible for the discounts on the first of December. Application forms will be mailed to customers or can be found on at www.californiaamwater.com In addition, California American Water will review customer enrollment in discount programs for Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison to identify qualified participants.

In addition to ratepayer assistance, California American Water utilizes tiered residential rates to provide essential levels of water service at discounted costs, budget billing, payment arrangement plans of up to 12 months and a variety of conservation programs and services to help customers save by using less. Customers can learn more by visiting our website at www.californiaamwater.com.

About California American Water: California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), provides high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to more than 680,000 California residents. Information regarding California American Water’s service areas can be found on the company’s website www.californiaamwater.com.

About American Water: With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,800 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 15 million people in 46 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

AWK-IR

Evan Jacobs

Director of Regulatory Policy and Case Management

California American Water

4701 Beloit Drive

Sacramento, CA 95838

Office: (916) 568-4252

Cell: (707) 495-6135

[email protected]

KEYWORDS: California United States North America

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Energy Natural Resources Utilities Other Natural Resources

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Insyde® Software Launches Predictive Memory Failure Software Solution

Insyde® Software Launches Predictive Memory Failure Software Solution

Targeted at Data Centers and Cloud Service Providers, Supervyse® Memory/FP™

Leverages Intel® Memory Failure Prediction (MFP) Technology to Reduce Server Downtime

PORTLAND, Ore. & TAIPEI, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Insyde® Software, a leading provider of UEFI BIOS and BMC management firmware, announced today a solution for data centers and CSPs (Cloud Service Providers) using Artificial Intelligence to predict memory failures on server platforms, then alerting IT administrators to act to reduce system downtime.

By comparing immense amounts of error detection and correction data from multiple cloud service providers, Intel’s MFP technology uses AI to create a database of predictive patterns for system memory. This database is then leveraged by Supervyse Memory/FP to assign a health score to each memory DIMM and identify future failures in real-time.

Supervyse Memory/FP is available as a value-added module to the company’s flagship Supervyse BMC firmware. In addition, InsydeH2O UEFI firmware has been optimized to provide memory error logs necessary for the successful scoring and health ranking of DDR3 and DDR4 memory modules.

“We are eager to collaborate with Intel’s Data Center Management Solutions Group to address one of the most common causes of server downtime,” said Bryant Lee, Director of Marketing for Server BIOS and BMC Firmware at Insyde Software. “Providing full support and integration of the MFP technology in our BMC and BIOS firmware is a natural extension of our product portfolio and addresses a real concern of our data center customers,” added Lee.

“Memory Failure Prediction is a core technology that every datacenter and cloud service provider should utilize to reduce total cost of ownership and improve system uptime,” said Jeff Klaus, General Manager, Data Center Management Solutions Group at Intel. “Insyde Software’s ability to seamlessly integrate MFP into their InsydeH2O BIOS and Supervyse BMC firmware makes them a valuable ecosystem partner in addressing this critical challenge,” added Klaus.

About Insyde Software

Insyde Software (www.insyde.com) is a leading worldwide provider of UEFI firmware, systems management solutions and custom engineering services for companies in the mobile, server, desktop and IoT (Internet-of-Things) computing industries. The company is publicly held (GTSM: 6231) and headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan with U.S. headquarters in Westborough, MA. The company’s customers include the world’s leading computing, communications and storage device designers and manufacturers.

Insyde, InsydeH2O, Supervyse and Supervyse Memory/FP are registered trademarks or trademarks of Insyde Software in the United States and other countries. Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corp. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Insyde Software – Asia

Tina Hsiao

886-2-6608-3688 x1599

[email protected]

Insyde Software – U.S.

Alastair Jones

503-997-6564

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1347 Property Insurance Holdings, Inc. Announces Change in Name to FG Financial Group, Inc. and Ticker Symbol To “FGF”

1347 Property Insurance Holdings, Inc. Announces Change in Name to FG Financial Group, Inc. and Ticker Symbol To “FGF”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–1347 Property Insurance Holdings, Inc. (“the Company”) (NASDAQ: FGF), a holding company which is implementing business plans to operate as a diversified holding company of reinsurance and investment management businesses, announced today that it has changed its name to FG Financial Group, Inc. (“FG Financial”) to better reflect the Company’s diversified holding company strategy.

The Company’s shares of common stock commence trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the new ticker symbol “FGF”, effective today. The Company’s series A preferred shares also commence trading today on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “FGFPP”.

About FG Financial Group, Inc.

FG Financial Group, Inc. is implementing business plans to operate as a diversified insurance, reinsurance and investment management holding company and is incorporated in Delaware. The Company endeavors to make opportunistic and value-oriented investments in insurance, reinsurance and related businesses. The Company’s principal business operations are conducted through its subsidiaries and affiliates. The Company also provides investment management services.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this press release are not based on historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “can,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “evaluate,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “probable,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “view,” or “will,” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These statements reflect the Company’s reasonable judgment with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include risks associated with our ability to execute on our business strategy and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company’s periodic reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise.

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

The Equity Group Inc.

Jeremy Hellman, CFA

Vice President

(212) 836-9626 / [email protected]

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Confluera Exits 2020 with Record Growth Rate, Driven by Strategic Partnerships, Award Recognitions and Product Innovation

Confluera Exits 2020 with Record Growth Rate, Driven by Strategic Partnerships, Award Recognitions and Product Innovation

Company continues XDR industry leadership, achieving Forbes’ “The Top 20 Cybersecurity Startups to Watch In 2021” and 400% customer growth

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Confluera, the leading provider of the Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solution, achieved record growth in 2020, exiting the year with a customer growth rate of 400 percent, including gains in strategic partnerships, channel program growth, award recognitions, and its Confluera 2.0 product update.

Confluera began its high-growth year by raising over $20 million in Series B funding led by Icon Ventures to unlock the future of cyber threat detection and response. This milestone drove Confluera’s overall growth and innovation in the XDR market, leading to an over 30 percent increase in employee headcount and the acceleration of autonomous security for cloud infrastructure.

Confluera’s XDR success was cemented with the innovation of its Confluera 2.0 product, including new features and capabilities that address evolving customer needs as they battle cyberattacks amid the current volatile security environment. Confluera had an increase in customer growth by 400 percent during 2020 in a multitude of industries including financial, manufacturing, healthcare and government sectors.

In addition, Confluera achieved industry validation from key award recognitions such as:

The company has built upon a number of trusted partners through its Confluera 2020 Reseller Program, including 3SG Plus and Tevora. The expansion of the reseller program leverages the company’s industry-leading platform to autonomously detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents from a post-facto incident response to a real-time threat interception.

“Confluera’s award-winning innovation and overall growth in the XDR market comes at a critical point for the security industry. Now more than ever before, the evolving threat landscape requires an advanced level of security to remove the complexity of manual system analysis and deliver a high degree of detection accuracy not previously possible,” said Abhijit Ghosh, CEO and co-founder, Confluera. “In 2021, we anticipate even higher growth for Confluera as a leading player in the XDR space, and we look forward to the successes the new year will bring.”

About Confluera

Confluera is the leading provider of extended detection and response (XDR). Recognized by Forbes as one of the “Top 20 Cybersecurity Startups to Watch in 2021,” Confluera is the only vendor that offers real-time sequencing of various attack steps found in modern cyberattacks. Confluera’s patented machine learning technology automates the tedious and error-prone task of correlating events, removes the complexity of manual analysis of multiple systems, and provides a high degree of detection accuracy not previously possible. To learn more about Confluera’s award-winning solution, visit www.confluera.com.

Waters Agency

Jessica Luhrman

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Michaels Releases Top “Making” Trends of 2020

Michaels Releases Top “Making” Trends of 2020

North America’s Largest Arts and Crafts Retailer Reveals What Americans Made This Year

IRVING, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
The Michaels Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK), today released the top trends in making.* Michaels analyzed its 2020 sales and trend data to identify how customers were “making” the most out of their time at home.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201217005298/en/

Michaels Stores shares the top arts and crafts trends of 2020 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Michaels Stores shares the top arts and crafts trends of 2020 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Makers – people who make arts and crafts as a hobby or business – used crafting to cope during the pandemic. Through internal data, Michaels saw that consumers across the country knitted, painted, beaded and tie dyed their way through the year.

“Several new trends emerged this year given everyone spent more time at home,” said Laura Denk, Chief Merchandising Officer at Michaels. “In 2020, technology for personalizing items was popular, with the sale of vinyl cutting machines more than doubling. Meanwhile, purchases of resin, to make colorful earrings and bracelets, increased more than 10x. As the one stop shop for arts and crafts, it’s so important that we continue to inspire our Makers and help fuel their creativity, especially in a year like this.”

Michaels 2020 Top 5 Trends in Making

  1. Jewelry – Jewelry making is a fan favorite every year, but in 2020 the big winner was resin, resin, resin for making earrings, bracelets and more, to keep you fun and fresh for yet another Zoom.
  2. Technology – The role of technology in making has continued to increase in recent years. In 2020, we saw a huge shift in consumers buying machines to help them create personalized items and gifts, like the stainless-steel tumbler for coffee and cocktails. Did we mention cocktails?
  3. Kids Arts and Education – With kids both learning and playing at home this year, laptop trays for home school and tie dye kits for everything from t-shirts to canvas bags were popular trends.
  4. Yarn – Big yarn was a popular trend this year given that people spent A LOT of time cozying up on the couch.
  5. Fine Art – Canvases for painting and paint pouring really popped this year. People poured paint to put their minds at ease while also beautifying their space.

In a continued effort to support Makers, Michaels launched “Difference Makers”, an initiative to inspire Americans to brighten their communities with their creativity. Michaels is encouraging Makers to share how they, or someone in their lives, are using creativity to bring cheer to those in their community who need it most. Makers are invited to visit www.michaels.com/differencemakers to upload an image and description of their goodwill gesture until December 26. Select entries may be profiled on Michaels channels and receive a $250 Michaels gift card.

*First-party internal data from Michaels based on fastest growing categories and items within each, year over year.

About The Michaels Companies, Inc.: The Michaels Companies, Inc. is North America’s largest specialty provider of arts, crafts, framing, floral, wall décor, and seasonal merchandise for Makers and do-it-yourself home decorators. The Company operates more than 1,272 Michaels stores in 49 states and Canada. Additionally, the Company serves customers through digital platforms including Michaels.com and Canada.michaels.com. The Michaels Companies, Inc., also owns Artistree, a manufacturer of high-quality custom and specialty framing merchandise. For a list of store locations or to shop online, visit www.michaels.com or download the Michaels app.

Mallory Smith

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Michaels Stores shares the top arts and crafts trends of 2020 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Cloudflare Announces Cloudflare Pages, Brings Next Generation Website Development Platform to Businesses and Developers

Cloudflare Announces Cloudflare Pages, Brings Next Generation Website Development Platform to Businesses and Developers

New platform delivers the fastest and most scalable websites distributed on the edge

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet, today announced the release of Cloudflare Pages, the next-generation website development platform with exceptional performance, security, scalability, and pricing. Cloudflare Pages is JAMstack-compatible and offers exceptional security, scalability, pricing, and performance—up to twice as fast as other platforms. Cloudflare Pages provides developers a simpler, faster, and more collaborative way to build websites for free.

“From day one Cloudflare was built to service developers. Over the last ten years, millions of developers have counted on us for our network performance and security services. With Cloudflare Pages, we’re now providing them with a scalable, fast, secure, cost-effective platform to build next-generation applications that they can deploy globally,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder & CEO of Cloudflare. “Internally, we believe it’s only a matter of time before an individual developer builds a billion-dollar company on their own. We hope Cloudflare Pages will provide the building blocks to help make our belief a reality.”

Performance on the web has always been a battle against the speed of light—accessing a site from London that is served from Seattle, WA means every single asset request has to travel over seven thousand miles. Cloudflare Pages is the next breakthrough in the web performance battle, building entire sites directly onto the edge of the Internet, and closer to the end-users. With Cloudflare Pages, developers can focus on building brilliant websites rather than spending time on integrating disparate systems. Pages integrates seamlessly with GitHub to simplify the development process, to collect and integrate feedback from multiple stakeholders, and to deploy those changes quickly to the edge.

Cloudflare Pages provides a broad set of benefits to developers:

  • Massively Scalable: Built on Cloudflare’s global network spanning more than 200 cities in over 100 countries.
  • Collaborative: Pages automatically generates preview links for every commit, allowing all stakeholders to easily provide feedback. Users can add an unlimited number of collaborators for free to each project, making Pages ideal for teams of every size.
  • Simple Deployment: Deploy directly to Cloudflare’s edge using Git integration.
  • Performance: Cloudflare Pages run on Cloudflare’s edge, within 100 milliseconds of 99% of the Internet-connected population in the developed world, resulting inspeedsup to twice as fast as other platforms.
  • Secure By Design: Build with confidence with free SSL as standard, and Cloudflare’s WAF just one click away. Cloudflare also provides support for the latest web standards with HTTP/3, QUIC, and image compression out of the box.
  • Cost-Effective: Cloudflare Pages has one of the industry’s best free plans, providing unlimited bandwidth, requests, and admin seats for free.
  • Integrated with Cloudflare Workers Platform: Developers will be able to write their own APIs through direct integration with Workers, and have access to direct storage via Workers KV and Durable Objects.

“Cloudflare Pages makes it really easy for our agency to hit deadlines to build static sites for our customers,” said Matt Weinberg, Co-Founder & President of Development & Technology at Happy Cog. “We no longer have to worry about scaling as traffic increases around launch dates. We are also very excited to see what powerful applications we can build by combining Cloudflare Pages and Workers.”

To learn more about Cloudflare and Cloudflare Pages, please check out the resources below:

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (www.cloudflare.com / @cloudflare) is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare’s platform protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures 2018 list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company in 2019. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Cloudflare has offices in Austin, TX, Champaign, IL, Seattle, WA, New York, NY, San Jose, CA, Washington, D.C., Lisbon, London, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Forward-Looking Statements

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The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

Daniella Vallurupalli

[email protected]

KEYWORDS: Germany Singapore North America Asia Pacific Europe United States Ireland United Kingdom California

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Data Management Security Technology Mobile/Wireless Software Networks Internet

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Central Garden & Pet To Acquire Hopewell Nursery

Central Garden & Pet To Acquire Hopewell Nursery

Transaction Builds Further Scale in the Garden Industry’s Attractive Live Goods Category

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT, CENTA) (“Central”), a market leader in the garden and pet industries, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hopewell Nursery, a leading live goods grower serving retail nurseries, landscape contractors, wholesalers and garden centers across the Northeast. The addition of Hopewell Nursery to the Central portfolio further bolsters its position as a leading live goods provider in the garden segment. The Hopewell acquisition follows the Company’s successful addition of Bell Nursery in 2018.

“We are pleased to welcome Hopewell Nursery into the Central Garden & Pet portfolio and further expand our live goods business,” said Tim Cofer, CEO of Central. “Acquisitions are a key focus of our new Central to Home strategy, and we believe adding Hopewell to our portfolio will help us build scale, enter priority adjacencies, and better serve consumers with more high-quality live goods offerings.”

Hopewell Nursery, with headquarters in Bridgeton, NJ, was founded in 1988. Today, the company owns over 1,800 acres of farmland in New Jersey and Maryland, which include over 9.5 million square feet of polyhouse production, 100 acres of pot-in-pot production and offers over 2,000 different varieties of plants, mostly in the trees and shrubs categories. The company currently employs approximately 500 people.

Hopewell will be a part of the Central Garden segment led by J.D. Walker, President, Garden Consumer Products. Central Garden & Pet’s Brett Guthrie, Chief Operating Officer of Bell Nursery, will oversee the company’s live goods business, and the day-to-day operations will continue to be run by current Hopewell employees.

The transaction is expected to close on December 31, 2020. Purchase price and other terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

About Central Garden & Pet

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT, CENTA) understands that home is central to life and has proudly nurtured happy and healthy homes for over 40 years. With 2020 sales of $2.7 billion, Central is on a mission to lead the future of the pet and garden industries. The Company’s innovative and trusted products are dedicated to help lawns grow greener, gardens bloom bigger, pets live healthier and communities grow stronger. Central is home to a leading portfolio of more than 65 high-quality brands including Pennington, Nylabone, Kaytee, Amdro and Aqueon, strong manufacturing and distribution capabilities and a passionate, entrepreneurial growth culture. Central Garden & Pet is based in Walnut Creek, California and has over 6,300 employees across North America and Europe. For additional information about Central, please visit the Company’s website at www.central.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, could be deemed forward-looking statements. Statements in this press release concerning Central’s business, strategy and focus; our agreement to acquire Hopewell Nursery; the ability to build scale in the live goods business and enter priority adjacencies; and our overall future prospects are forward-looking statements that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results or events could differ materially from those anticipated in those forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including, without limitation, our ability to close the contemplated acquisition in a timely basis or at all, our ability to integrate the acquired company, potential benefits of the transaction to Central and our customers, and other factors listed in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements made in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. Central undertakes no obligation to update the information in this press release in the event facts or circumstances subsequently change after the date of this press release.

Investor Relations Contact:

Friederike Edelmann

(925) 948-3657

[email protected]

Media Relations Contact:

Liz Nunan

(925) 878-9465

[email protected]

KEYWORDS: California New Jersey United States North America

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Home Goods Agriculture Construction & Property Natural Resources Pets Consumer Landscape Retail

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