Xlmedia Share Discussion Threads

[km85] 30/7/2019 11:10

Yes she was indeed but they also have an operations office in Cyprus but that mainly for the affiliates business. I would not call it a disaster, as they had made money from that sector, but it was a stupid move to ignore the very high margin and profitable business and focused on less margin and so so profitable business. I always prefer for a company to stick with its product and especially if that product is so profitable. It reminded me of Coca Cola and new coke products back few decades ago.

[rysk100] 30/7/2019 10:55

She was in charge everything, she was CEO of Webpals and XLMedia = Webpals
Her fingerprints were all over the mobile adtech buys which turned out to be a disaster though

[km85] 30/7/2019 10:51

Not sure if she was resigned or fired, wish her the best anyway. But I think she was gone because of the recent strategic plans announced last March, She was in charge of the media and mobile app vertical and the company is not longer interested in that sector.

[rysk100] 30/7/2019 10:41

Curious, how do you know Lavi was fired? The press release says she resigned.
Or is it a case of reading between the lines as public companies prefer to let CEO's 'resign'?
Was Ory also fired in that case?

[km85] 30/7/2019 10:21

Big volume today just 1.5m SHARES bought now. A new French institution investor.

[malcolmmm] 30/7/2019 10:11

Lots of buying and selling. Inbal Lavi ,since she was fired, is busy selling her shares but the shares are liquid ,easy to buy and sell at volume so I think they will stabilise soon after the change of CEO

[astralvision] 30/7/2019 09:29

And back to mid 70's.At least there might be a better take up for the tender offer now.Might be worth buying a few more when the share price has stabilised.

[km85] 29/7/2019 19:14

rYSK100, iF you look at their main Cash machine sites, Like free bets .co.uk and 101 great goals and many others you will see that the overall traffic has been moving up and recovered and their financial sites traffic has been really doing great. I completely agree with you that they need to bring someone with SEO and Tech experience to run the day to day business while the new CEO focus, with Ory help, on the acquisitions and integrations.

[km85] 29/7/2019 19:06

Rysk100 that is it. Inbal is the one who focused on the media side and she is the one who run Webpals.

[rysk100] 29/7/2019 18:56

Its the replacement for Inbal Lavi that is key not Ory. Webpals is the actual company in Israel not XLMedia
Clear they are paying the price for 1) long-term SEO decline 2) not acquiring enough new strong SEO properties 3) Going into mobile adtech (dau-up, clicksmob)

[km85] 29/7/2019 16:33

Sphere2529, I disagree with you completely. He is not sneaky sneaky and he did not paint any picture. The market valued XLM over 200P not because he bought stock, but because the operation results were strong. over 30% sales increased and over 50% profit increased in FY2018. During that time was three positive updates and some nice acquisitions. The stock crashed because of the opposite reason, decline in operations results and warnings. when he bought recently the market did not react positively till the new article and then the Tender offer. I know Ory personally for long time as we both in the same affiliates business. i came from FX affiliates business and I meet him in several countries in several EXPOS. I think he never did anything wrong. XLM is a profitable business and it made him millions of Pounds and he was managed it for 11 years or even before that. Since the IPO the business has ben growing nicely, paying dividends and expending. Last year there was an issue within the industry that affect operators and affiliates, name a company within this industry that was not affected? GVC Holding was affected, William Hill was affected, 888 was affected, Catena media was affected, and the overall Uk markets was affected too. are those big names painting pictures too? I really do not care if the stock crashed or no because I am a long term investor but I do believe in Ory not because I know him but because the numbers do not lie. He said that sales will be dropped by 30M dollar and mainly because of reducing the media not profitable business, and from that 30 million about 6 to 7 M reduce in EBITDA and the net profit will be affected by 2 to 3M mainly because of the reinvestment of sites in the US markets.

[malcolmmm] 29/7/2019 16:28

Don't know if anyone here trades Forex but its been a no brainer as the pound tanks against the dollar which is also good for XLM

[malcolmmm] 29/7/2019 16:24

Stockopedia rate them 96, 100 being the highest level. SCSW are usually very good at finding value and they had a meeting with Weihs last month.They recommended GAN in March which has done very well in the US as online gaming is legalised.

[km85] 29/7/2019 16:10

I will still believe in him as long as he still hold his 3% shares or even better if he still buys shares. He is running the business from Prague where the operations business running from Israel and cYPRUS. in IL the CEO is fired which is good so they need to bring some one with experience, in Cy they have the head of sales rung the affiliate business. SO Ory job was like thinking and doing the acquisitions, he has high salary too. The new CEO has more experience than Ory in the integration, tech and Acquisitions, and Ory has more experience in the online gaming industry. So Ory will help the new CEO in that area while the New guy run the business in the most benefit way. Is that a scam or fraud or cheating?

Since the IPO, the company have not lost in any single year, the company has produced fat income, high return on capital, High margins, high cash flows, paying dividends on time, more than doubled the sales, and four-times the profit since the IPP and some people still attacking the company for no reason other than fear and stress. Trust me the websites will still send traffic to clients regardless who is the CEO. The SEO specialist will still write contents and the media buying officers will still run ads. Video makers will still design and make nice videos. Day to day job will be the same or even better but the Big decision will be made by the NEW CEO, Like divineness, acquisitions, reinvestment in the current markets, entering a new verticals, etc.

[sphere25] 29/7/2019 15:34

Sneaky sneaky Ory, up to his clever tricks once more!

He was dumping in size "indirectly" in the past, whilst then making token purchases to paint a picture that he was actually still confident in the business and it was going places. Then you'll never guess what happened!

--> Warnings and a crash in the stock.

More recently we've had him pumping to the likes of SCSW, so much so that they were convinced to make this the front page write up. Now a short while later he is no longer wanting to lead this so called "cheap" stock to a recovery and a much higher valuation.

Ory is the best person to lead this company, and if he is more interested now in "other business interests outside of XLMedia", what do you think that says about the potential here going forward?

Yes, there is a possibility it could still continue a recovery, but the risk factor has substantially increased here and the significant selling volume today are investors voting with their feet.

The only surprise (so far) is that the stock hasn't cratered more to reflect the much higher risk of earnings forecasts now being met. In the short term, the stock needs to re-rate materially lower imo to reflect this higher risk and then await further news.

Just my opinion folks, feel free to throw a strop if it helps. Only delusional folk think a bulletin board poster can influence a share price.

[km85] 29/7/2019 14:51

I emailed Ory early today regarding the new development and below his response:

I appreciate the kind words, and I would also like to thank you for being a supporter of the XLM story.

It’s a challenging time for the gaming industry as a while but I’m confident that in the long run we (long term shareholders) will unlock great value here. The company is positioned well, has the resources and know how to get back to growth and develop more revenue streams.



Regarding myself, I’m not leaving and will be the typical NED but one that wants to be involved where I can add the most value, Bizdev, product etc’.



Stuart is an extremely accomplished leader and is well positioned to drive us to the next phase of growth, he understands what we are trying to do here and will use his executive experience to make it happen.



I hope we will stay in touch anyway as my “virtual door” is always open, I will also be in London for the H1 numbers.



Best Regards,

Ory




Well what I understood from him is that he will still be part of it and he will help the management in term of his experience within this sector. He will be long term shareholder, he thinks the business will bring good value in long term, he believes in the new CEO and The new CEO already know that business and he ready to act. and finally he will be here, maybe with the new CEO, in London at the private investor meeting.


Goof Luck all

[km85] 29/7/2019 13:17

Hope some of the big sales today went through the tender offer.

[stun180] 29/7/2019 12:40

I agree and also expect results to be moving in right direction. I think todays sell of is a complete overreaction , but thats AIM . The share price has dropped from the 190's down to mid 40's in the last 18 months , a change in ceo should be welcomed.imho

[talygarn tom] 29/7/2019 12:39

The institutional holders are pulling the strings here. They have a severely undervalued asset and they are making the changes required to restore shareholder value. As much as I rate Ory's ability I think his credibility was diminished and Inbal is possibly paying the price for failing to line up suitable acquisitions over the last 12 moths. I am pleased Ory will remain engaged as a non-Exec. I think Stuart will bring a lot of experience and a fresh perspective to the business. It will be interesting to see what the brokers make of the changes.

[km85] 29/7/2019 12:08

Possibly, The management already knew the results. I personally think it is very positive results, otherwise why would they buy another 20m shares? anyway the results will be released In November and will be happy to see the new CEO to understand what is his strategies moving forward.

[stun180] 29/7/2019 11:58

Does the timing of this rns aid the completion of the tender offer before results are published. I do not have a problem with Ory moving on based on poor decisions over the last 18 months. Onwards and upwards imho

[km85] 29/7/2019 11:33

Our most recent President, Stuart Simms, has now been appointed as the Rakuten Marketing Chief Executive Officer. We couldn’t be more ecstatic to be having such an innovative, thoughtful retail tech veteran leading our company through its next phase of growth. Stuart will dedicate his time and efforts in advancing the state of online advertising in ways that make it more compelling, tailored and inspiring for consumers – and more profitable for brands. He will also invest in areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning that help predict consumers’ needs, interests and preferences.

Our previous CEO, Tony Zito, who will now be taking on a new role in the Rakuten business, stated “There couldn’t be a better time to appoint someone like Stuart to this important leadership role,” stated Tony Zito. “He is an impressive talent and, given our newest technology focus on artificial intelligence, Rakuten Marketing now has a tremendous opportunity to realise its vision when it comes to advancing and improving consumer advertising.”

Stuart is a very experienced executive with proven expertise in building and leading high-growth, global digital commerce, SaaS and cloud-services organisations. Before Rakuten Marketing, Stuart held numerous executive leadership positions at major multi-national organisations. He was CEO of Rakuten Fits Me, served as GM for Venda (sold to Netsuite), and was GM at Rackspace where he ran the highly acclaimed European Cloud Services business. Other previous senior leadership roles have included responsibility for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications business across the Middle East and Africa.

As President of Rakuten Marketing, Stuart successfully enhanced the company’s corporate structure to further align Rakuten Marketing’s product, technology and services divisions. Since this appointment, Stuart has recognised a new client increase of over 16% over the last year. This success reflects his commitment to positioning the organisation for accelerated growth that we know will continue in his role as Rakuten Marketing CEO.

“We are committed to leveraging the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, along with Rakuten’s massive data assets, to deliver ad experiences that people love, and ads that enable our brands to profit. I’m truly excited to make this promise a reality.” – Stuart Simms

[km85] 29/7/2019 11:20

Yeah he seems to have a great talent. I think the board choose him for that reason, I also think he has big connections attached to his name too. The market might trusts him! He just needs to keep the current strategy refocus and be more active in acquisitions and integrations in the US as well as Eu markets. He might launch new affiliates market like E commerce or others.

[malcolmmm] 29/7/2019 10:55

Read about him on his last appointment in the USA where the potential lies. seems a good guy. When the market investigate him the shares will rise imo.

SAN MATEO, Calif., Aug. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Marketing continues to raise the bar for digital marketing with the appointment of retail tech veteran, Stuart Simms, as Chief Executive Officer. Leading the company through its next phase of innovation and exponential growth, Simms will be focused on advancing the state of online advertising in ways that make it more compelling, tailored and inspiring for consumers – and more profitable for brands. Central to this is a commitment to increase Rakuten Marketing's investments in areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning that help predict consumers' needs, interests and preferences.

Simms has 26-years of executive experience, with proven expertise in building and leading high-growth, global digital commerce, SaaS and cloud-services organizations. He joined the Rakuten Marketing team in 2017 and now takes the reigns as CEO. Former CEO, Tony Zito, will assume a new role in the Rakuten business.

"There couldn't be a better time to appoint someone like Stuart to this important leadership role," stated Tony Zito. "He is an impressive talent and, given our newest technology focus on artificial intelligence, Rakuten Marketing now has a tremendous opportunity to realize its vision when it comes to advancing and improving consumer advertising."

Prior to his newest appointment, Simms served as President of Rakuten Marketing, holding responsibility for all day-to-day operations. During this period, he successfully enhanced the company's corporate structure to further align Rakuten Marketing's product, technology and services divisions. Since his appointment as President, Rakuten Marketing has recognized a new client increase of 16 percent over the last year. This success reflects Simms's commitment to positioning the organization for accelerated growth.

Before working with Rakuten Marketing, Simms held numerous executive leadership positions at major multi-national organizations. He was CEO of Rakuten Fits Me, served as GM for Venda (sold to Netsuite), and was GM at Rackspace where he ran the highly acclaimed European Cloud Services business. Other previous senior leadership roles have included responsibility for Microsoft's Mobile Communications business across the Middle East and Africa. Through all positions, he has been an early pioneer in new tech waves, including mobile, cloud, artificial intelligence and data science, and a consummate leader and driver of organizational health and growth.

"Advertising drives many of life's most enjoyable experiences – from international events like the World Cup and Olympics, to celebrity news, to daily necessities like weather, online shopping and social media connections," commented Simms. "In many ways, the industry's focus on ad technology and its functionality has diminished ad creativity, and we are simply not delivering what consumers need and desire. Rakuten Marketing is a global, leading-edge technology company with a highly talented team, and I'm excited to lead its next phase of growth. We are committed to leveraging the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, along with Rakuten's massive data assets, to deliver ad experiences that people love, and ads that enable our brands to profit. I'm truly excited to make this promise a reality."