Dr Velumani, Founder, Thyrocare in conversation with Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld talks about how India has successfully managed the COVID-19 crisis.

In an interview with BW Businessworld, Raian N. Karanjawala, Founder and Managing Partner, Karanjawala & Company, talks about the outstanding journey of Raian Karanjawala.

This is the time when the business leaders will have to maintain their mental balance, and will have to come out of this with a solution, believes Adarsh Gupta of Liberty Enterprises

A week that began with Steven Brown in a near-hopeless position with regard to retaining his European Tour privileges concluded with a maiden victory at the Portugal Masters.

Former world number one McIlroy was in a share of seventh after saying on Wednesday he wanted to end a four-year wait for a World Golf Championships victory - he finished on five-under-par.

Given the man's talent, it is perhaps only right that no season could be considered a great one for Rory McIlroy when he underperforms in the four majors.

DEREK LAWRENSON IN TURKEY: Englishman Steven Brown thought he'd be a bag of nerves by now, but he is rightly soaking in the praise and plaudits following his victory in the Portugal Masters.

Tyrrell Hatton puts his disappointing season down to a hangover from the highs of the Ryder Cup and a balky putter.

Sky Sports will be the only place to watch live coverage of the Masters next year after a new deal blocked the BBC out. The new deal ends a recent agreement whereby the BBC showed two rounds.

COMMENT: Even though it was expected, it did not lessen the sadness. The final two rounds of the Masters represented the final frontier as far as live coverage of golf on the BBC was concerned.

DEREK LAWRENSON 2019 REVIEW: As a farewell column for 2019, let's reflect on another momentous season and hand out some accolades to the best and worst moments in 2019.

Players have been given permission to wear shorts on competition days for the first time after forecasts showed temperatures at Leopard Creek were set to hit forty degrees celsius.

DEREK LAWRENSON IN ABU DHABI: Twelve months ago, a struggling Shane Lowry turned up here and spoke about rebuilding his career in some of the far-flung spots on the European Tour.

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: Naturally, when the time came to put an 80 next to the name of Jack Nicklaus, it had nothing to do with golf.

In the confines of the players' lounge and in off the record conversations on the practice ground, a litany of torment came to characterize a brutal first day at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

DEREK LAWRENSON IN DUBAI: Remember all those US Opens where they set the course up so hard it became a lottery, and they ended up with a funky winner?

DEREK LAWRENSON IN LOS ANGELES: A couple of firecrackers from Rory McIlroy in his first round back as world number one, and an opening statement from Tiger Woods.

Former Ryder Cup player Edoardo Molinari spoke of his shock and relief after coming through a coronavirus scare to post a strong score on the first day of the Oman Open.

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: Perhaps no American golfer in the past 35 years has had the ability to rub Europeans up the wrong way quite like Paul Azinger.

MY SPORTING HERO BY CALUM CROWE: Growing up in Ayrshire, I was raised on a diet of Junior football and links golf. Both were in my blood from an early age and have stuck with me.

When a 19-year-old Tiger Woods stood over his first-ever putt at the Masters on his debut in 1995, it is fair to say the American prodigy was in for a rude awakening.

Putin's decree released on Wednesday formalizes Russia's departure from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with the United States following Washington's withdrawal.

The spike in radiation in Russia yesterday may have been caused when one of Vladimir Putin's top secret Zircon hypersonic missiles exploded during tests, according to news reports in the country.

Russian journalists noted that the blonde ice cream seller at the MAKS-2019 international air show on Wednesday was the same woman who sold Putin his cone two years ago at the same event.

The poll on Sunday suggests a tactical voting strategy pushed by opponents may have worked, in order to punish the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin's (pictured) ruling United Russia party.

Emily Thornberry today accused Donald Trump of 'trying to tear freedom apart' as she demanded the end of the 'strongman era' of world politics.

Siberian shaman Alexander 'Sasha' Gabyshev, 60, nicknamed the 'new Rasputin' has vowed to restart his two-year journey to 'exorcise' Vladimir Putin after he was arrested last month.

Acclaimed director Rob Reiner (left), 72, tweeted on Saturday that President Trump's (top right) supporters have 'made a pact' with Russian President Vladimir Putin (bottom right).

Mr Young (pictured with girlfriend Noelle Reno) died after plunging onto railings below his £3m London penthouse in 2014 after repeatedly warning police and friends that hitmen wanted him dead.

Putin appears to have set himself up to rule for life after announcing reforms that could see him grab the helm of a strengthened state council. His moves have been likened to that of China's leader.

The first image of Vladlena Mishustina, wife of Russia's new prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, emerged on Friday as questions were raised about how they obtained their wealth.

Business Wire India

Monsoon Blockchain Corporation, Asia’s premier blockchain company pioneering the adoption of highly secure decentralized asset management, has partnered with Asia’s largest digital asset platform OSL of BC Group, DraperDragon Fund, CarbonBlue of BSN, and Academy Award Winning Studio Cross Creek Media. This deal signifies a major move for the blockchain, digital assets, and the expansion of global media and Hollywood. These partners create a global powerhouse in the Asia-Pacific region, which plan to harness industry-leading blockchain solutions for their business needs.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200505006164/en/

The Monsoon-OSL deal will explore opportunities to accelerate the drive towards the digitalization of assets, money, currencies, and decentralized blockchain ledgers (where all transactions, storage of payments and data will be inviolably recorded). Combining intellectual property, deal flow, large scale investors, and blockchain capabilities, Monsoon Blockchain is looking to create a digital asset powerhouse in the US and Asia.

OSL is the Hong Kong region’s most comprehensive digital asset platform, providing Software-as-a-Service, brokerage, exchange, and custody services for institutions and professional investors. OSL manages over $1.5B in transactions per month in digital asset trading. After reaching $171 billion this year, the value of business-to-business and cross-border payments carried out on blockchain systems is estimated to exceed an astounding $4.4 trillion by 2024.

Recently, Fidelity International, a spin-off from the U.S. financial services brand Fidelity Investments, invested in BC Group (stock code: 863 HK), the Hong Kong-based operator of crypto exchange OSL. Including custodial accounts, the firm reported $8.3 trillion in assets under administration - a spike from the reported $6.7 trillion in 2018.

Both Monsoon and OSL will participate in launching multiple digital assets and tokens including media and telecommunications tokens, Monsoon Token, and other branded assets within the Monsoon ecosystem. Monsoon has been making worldwide news in blockchain after partnering with China’s largest phone retailer, Dixintong (D.Phone), which generated a reported $2.5 billion in revenue in 2019.

Monsoon will be joining the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), which was recently launched on the Chinese Mainland on April 25th, 2020 and will officially be available for global commercial use by June 25^th. China Mobile, China UnionPay, and Red Date Technology are the founding consortia partners that created the BSN protocol and infrastructure, which has been deployed in over 100 cities in China. The BSN is a global interoperability protocol that allows companies to connect to different blockchain ecosystems, as well as create and run new blockchain-as-a-service applications. The BSN will accelerate the development of digital economies and smart cities deployment by providing global interconnectivity and integrated blockchain cloud computing services for participants on the network.

Additionally, Monsoon has formed a new partnership with CarbonBlue Innovations to integrate cloud computing capabilities on top of the BSN protocol, allowing the creation of new low-cost blockchain cloud computing offerings suitable for developing regions of the world. CarbonBlue Innovations is a leading venture building and investment company that is focused on rapidly commercializing and scaling blockchain, fintech, and digital finance innovation around the world. Not only does CarbonBlue Innovations focus on both fintech infrastructure solutions, but also digital assets and investment banking services to allow the institutional adoption of regulated digital assets.

Michael Sung, Chairman of CarbonBlue Innovations asserted: “Monsoon’s unique cloud computing optimization technologies complement the existing multi-cloud offerings of the BSN and can further enhance our ability to customize blockchain cloud services for the developing world. With this partnership, we will be able to offer compelling low-cost solutions to enable SMEs (small and medium enterprises) globally to join the digital economy, which will massively drive self-sufficiency and financial inclusion in these developing regions.”

Monsoon will also be able to leverage the partnership with CarbonBlue Innovations to create innovative digital asset securitization and digital finance solutions for the market. Leveraging CarbonBlue Innovation’s strong academic and institutional finance affiliations, the new partnership will allow the creation of a vertically-integrated digital asset investment banking platform to address the massive opportunity in the future digitization of the world’s economy. CarbonBlue Innovations is able to provide full-stack solutions, vertically-integrating fintech technology infrastructure, legal/regulatory best practices, and institutional financial engineering expertise for digital finance.

Michael Sung added, “CarbonBlue Innovations has created a strong strategic partnership network consisting of the top digital asset companies leading the industry. Combined with Monsoon’s access to various industry ecosystems and pipeline of tokenization projects, our partnership will enable us to immediately scale to take a leadership position in the market and allow our clients to leapfrog into the future of finance.”

Partnering with Monsoon Blockchain, Cross Creek Media ($1.5B in the worldwide Box office) will expand its digital assets in film, television, and IP into the blockchain universe. The aim of the partnership is to achieve streamlined digital content management systems, and to gain broader access to worldwide audiences. Cross Creek has been a co-financier/producer of such films as Oscar winner Black Swan and has been behind hits American Made,Everest, Black Mass, Bloodshot, Hacksaw Ridge and the upcoming The Trial of the Chicago 7. Cross Creek is well positioned to be the next generation of production houses. Additionally, Cross Creek will announce a token style offering alongside Monsoon Blockchain Corporation. Timmy Thompson, CEO of Cross Creek Media stated: “We are very excited to work with Monsoon and continue developing award-winning properties. Furthermore, we believe Cross Creek's portfolio of new media technology investments perfectly positions us to take advantage of the new distribution paradigms.”

“We are very honored to work with such insightful leaders and innovators, the breadth of participants in this deal demonstrates the significant impact blockchain will have across a wide variety of industries,” Dr. Donald Basile added, “tokenization of asset classes has a tremendous upside on both the investment level and security level. Gartner’s prediction of over $3 trillion of business value added by blockchain seems increasingly likely.”

Monsoon Blockchain Corporation is focused on innovative cloud solutions in the blockchain ecosystem. Dr. Donald Basile, its CEO and founder, is the former CEO of Fusion IO, a company known for playing a major role in implementing the cloud systems at Apple and Facebook as well as partnerships with HP, IBM, and Dell. Recently, Monsoon Blockchain added advisory board members Ken Goldman, President of Hillspire (Eric Schmidt’s family office), and former CFO of Yahoo and Fortinet and Xiaoma Lu, former Dalian Wanda Investments CEO and former board member of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to their team.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200505006164/en/

Business Wire India

Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA) today released financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2020 by posting management’s Q1 2020 Quarterly Earnings Letter to its Investor Relations website. Please see the attached Quarterly Earnings Letter or visit http://investor.zynga.com/financial-information/quarterly-results to access the letter.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200506005106/en/

“During this unprecedented time, Zynga's mission – to connect the world through games – has become even more meaningful for our company. As people around the world shelter-in-place, friends and families are turning to social games as an incredibly engaging and highly accessible way to connect,” said Frank Gibeau, Chief Executive Officer of Zynga. “I am proud of how Zynga’s teams have responded by continuing to deliver high quality live game services to millions of players worldwide. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to provide fun and social connections, as well as a sense of community, during this pandemic.”

Zynga management will also host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) today to discuss the company’s results. Questions may be asked on the call and Zynga will respond to as many questions as possible.

The conference call can be accessed at http://investor.zynga.com – a replay of which will be available through the website after the call – or via the below conference dial-in number:

• Toll-Free Dial-In Number: (800) 537-0745
• International Dial-In Number: (253) 237-1142
• Conference ID: 3119964

About Zynga Inc.

Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment with a mission to connect the world through games. To date, more than one billion people have played Zynga’s franchises including CSR Racing™, Empires & Puzzles™, Merge Dragons!™, Words With Friends™ and Zynga Poker™. Zynga’s games are available in more than 150 countries and are playable across social platforms and mobile devices worldwide. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with locations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, India, Turkey and Finland. For more information, visit www.zynga.com or follow Zynga on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or the Zynga blog.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, relating to, among other things, guidance projections for full year 2020 revenue and bookings. Forward-looking statements often include words such as “outlook,” “projected,” “planned,” “intends,” “will,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “expect,” and statements in the future tense are generally forward-looking. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update such statements. More information about these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions is or will be described in greater detail in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), copies of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor Relations website at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Editor’s Note

To download Zynga’s B-roll footage and key art for its games, please visit: https://bit.ly/ZyngaQ12020Earnings

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200506005106/en/

Business Wire India

• Quarterly revenue of $78.0 million, up 18.5% year over year
• Quarterly gross margin of 61.3%, down from 63.8% year over year
• 2,077 active clients at March 31, 2020, up 12.1% year over year

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products and a Salesforce partner, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200507005325/en/

“For the first quarter, we achieved record quarterly revenue, matching the high-end of management guidance, generated $26.3 million of operating cash flow, produced another quarter of net income, strengthened the balance sheet with total cash of $58.0 million at quarter end and expanded sales capabilities. Operationally, in response to the pandemic, we leveraged our secure, remote-connectivity infrastructure to seamlessly and smoothly transition our office-based employees worldwide to a work-at-home model with no material impact to our client service delivery or sales execution,” stated Seth A. Ravin, Rimini Street co-founder, CEO and chairman of the board. “Having already saved our clients nearly $5 billion to date, we are the right company, at the right time, with proven solutions that are helping organizations immediately slash IT operating costs, save jobs, stabilize operations and focus their more limited resources on strategic initiatives. Prior to the pandemic, we were making investments to meet increasing global demand for our expanded product and service portfolio. This increased demand was reflected in our previously issued - and today re-affirmed - 2020 guidance for accelerated year-over-year revenue growth. We are now accelerating those investments to service additional opportunities resulting from the global economic slowdown. We remain committed to the long-term goals of improving free cash flow and growing GAAP profitability.”

First Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights

• Revenue was $78.0 million for the 2020 first quarter, an increase of 18.5% compared to $65.9 million for the 2019 first quarter.
• Annualized Subscription Revenue was $310 million for the 2020 first quarter, an increase of 17.7% compared to $263 million for the 2019 first quarter.
• Active Clients as of March 31, 2020 were 2,077, an increase of 12.1% compared to 1,852 Active Clients as of March 31, 2019.
• Revenue Retention Rate was 92% for the trailing 12 months ended March 31, 2020 compared to 92% for the comparable period ended March 31, 2019.
• Gross margin was 61.3% for the 2020 first quarter compared to 63.8% for the same period last year.
• Operating income was $3.7 million for the 2020 first quarter compared to $11.2 million for the same period last year.
• Non-GAAP Operating Income was $8.9 million for the 2020 first quarter compared to $6.2 million for the same period last year.
• Net income was $2.5 million for the 2020 first quarter compared to $10.3 million for the same period last year.
• Non-GAAP Net Income was $7.7 million for the 2020 first quarter compared to $5.1 million for the same period last year.
• Adjusted EBITDA for the 2020 first quarter was $9.2 million compared to $6.6 million for the same period last year.
• Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders was a net loss per share of $0.06 for the 2020 first quarter compared to a net income per share of $0.05 for the same period last year.
• Employee count as of March 31, 2020 was 1,302, a year-over-year increase of 17%.
   

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures provided in this press release to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in the financial tables included at the end of this press release. An explanation of these measures, why we believe they are meaningful and how they are calculated is also included under the heading “About Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Certain Key Metrics.”

First Quarter 2020 Company Highlights

• Announced significant international client news, including;
  • Two client CFO’s from Brazil industrial manufacturers Metalurgica Fallgatter and Continental Parafusos, spearheaded the move to Rimini Street Support to save costs and improve productivity and business operations
  • Hearing Australia, Australia’s largest provider of government-funded services, switched to Rimini Street Support and was able to free up internal resources to undertake digital transformation initiatives
• Announced that Rimini Street established a whole-of-government volume sourcing agreementwith the Australian Government, an initiative which is part of the government’s agenda to transform ICT procurement to make it simpler, clearer and faster for agencies and industry to transact services.
• Announced the release of a research note from analyst firm Gartner, predicting that the third-party enterprise software support market is expected to grow by 200% from $351 million in 2019 to $1.05 billion by 2023.
• Closed over 8,400 support cases across 42 countries, and delivered more than 28,000 tax, legal and regulatory updates to clients in 33 countries, while achieving an average client satisfaction rating on the Company’s support delivery of 4.8 out of 5.0 (where 5.0 is rated excellent).
• Presented at nine CIO and IT and procurement leader events worldwide, including NRF Retail’s Big Show in New York, the Software Asset Management Conference in Berlin, Germany, and the TechTalk Summit in Miami, Florida.
• Partnered with seven global charities through the Rimini Street Foundation and donated more than 300 volunteer hours.
   

2020 Revenue Guidance

The Company is currently providing second quarter 2020 revenue guidance to be in the range of $77 million to $80 million, and maintaining full year 2020 revenue guidance in the range of $310 million to $320 million.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Rimini Street will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the first quarter 2020 results and select second quarter 2020 performance to-date commentary at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time on May 7, 2020. A live webcast of the event will be available on Rimini Street’s Investor Relations site at https://investors.riministreet.com. Dial-in participants can access the conference call by dialing (855) 213-3942 in the U.S. and Canada and enter the code 2672493. A replay of the webcast will be available for at least 90 days following the event.

Company’s Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains certain “non-GAAP financial measures.” Non-GAAP financial measures are not based on a comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. This non-GAAP information supplements, and is not intended to represent a measure of performance in accordance with disclosures required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial tables included in this press release. Presented under the heading “About Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Certain Key Metrics” is a description and explanation of our non-GAAP financial measures.

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI) is a global provider of enterprise software products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products and a Salesforce partner. The Company offers premium, ultra-responsive and integrated application management and support services that enable enterprise software licensees to save significant costs, free up resources for innovation and achieve better business outcomes. Over 2,000 global Fortune 500, midmarket, public sector and other organizations from a broad range of industries rely on Rimini Street as their trusted application enterprise software products and services provider. To learn more, please visit http://www.riministreet.com/, follow @riministreet on Twitter and find Rimini Street on Facebook and LinkedIn. (IR-RMNI)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “may,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “continue,” “future,” “will,” “expect,” “outlook” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the duration of and economic, operational and financial impacts on our business of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the actions taken by governmental authorities, clients or others in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; catastrophic events that disrupt our business or that of our current and prospective clients, changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including inflation and interest rates, and general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which Rimini Street operates; adverse developments in pending litigation or in the government inquiry or any new litigation; our need and ability to raise additional equity or debt financing on favorable terms and our ability to generate cash flows from operations to help fund increased investment in our growth initiatives; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements; the terms and impact of our outstanding 13.00% Series A Preferred Stock; changes in taxes, laws and regulations; competitive product and pricing activity; difficulties of managing growth profitably; the customer adoption of our recently introduced products and services, including our Application Management Services (AMS), Rimini Street Advanced Database Security, and services for Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud products, in addition to other products and services we expect to introduce in the near future; the loss of one or more members of Rimini Street’s management team; uncertainty as to the long-term value of Rimini Street’s equity securities; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 7, 2020, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2020 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.