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New Oriental Announces Results for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

April 26, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

BEIJING, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (the “Company” or “New Oriental”) (NYSE: EDU/ 9901.SEHK), a provider of private educational services in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2022, which is the third quarter of New Oriental’s fiscal year 2022.

Financial Highlights for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

Total net revenues decreased by 48.4% year-over-year to US$614.1 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022.
Operating loss was US$141.2 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to an income of US$101.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.
Net loss attributable to New Oriental was US$122.4 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022, compared to an income of US$151.3 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Key Financial Results

(in thousands US$, except per ADS⁽¹⁾ data)	3Q FY2022	3Q FY2021	% of change
Net revenues	614,091	1,190,498	-48.4%
Operating (loss) / income	(141,194)	101,470	-239.1%
Non-GAAP operating (loss) / income ⁽²⁾⁽³⁾	(111,232)	115,892	-196.0%
Net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental	(122,439)	151,326	-180.9%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental ⁽²⁾⁽³⁾	(95,503)	163,236	-158.5%
Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – basic	(0.72)	0.90	-180.6%
Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – diluted	(0.72)	0.89	-180.8%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – basic⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(0.56)	0.97	-158.3%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – diluted⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(0.56)	0.96	-158.4%

(in thousands US$, except per ADS⁽¹⁾data)	9M FY2022	9M FY2021	% of change
Net revenues	2,581,223	3,064,553	-15.8%
Operating (loss) / income	(876,864)	219,628	-499.2%
Non-GAAP operating (loss) / income ⁽²⁾⁽³⁾	(772,680)	268,363	-387.9%
Net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental	(998,419)	379,880	-362.8%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental ⁽²⁾⁽³⁾	(885,899)	416,902	-312.5%
Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – basic	(5.89)	2.33	-352.6%
Net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – diluted	(5.89)	2.32	-353.7%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – basic⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(5.22)	2.56	-304.3%
Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – diluted⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾	(5.22)	2.55	-305.1%

(1) Each ADS represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE. The weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the ADS ratio change from one ADS representing one common share to one ADS representing ten common shares, which became effective on April 8, 2022.
(2) GAAP represents Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America.
(3) New Oriental provides net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental, operating (loss) / income and net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental on a non-GAAP basis that excludes share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of investments to provide supplemental information regarding its operating performance. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section captioned “About Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the tables captioned “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to the Most Comparable GAAP Measures” set forth at the end of this release.
(4) The Non-GAAP net (loss) / income per ADS attributable to New Oriental is computed using Non-GAAP net (loss) / income attributable to New Oriental and the same number of shares and ADSs used in GAAP basic and diluted EPS calculation.

Operating Highlights for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

The total number of schools and learning centers was 847 as of February 28, 2022, a decrease of 778 and 822 compared to 1,625 as of February 28, 2021 and 1,669 as of May 31, 2021, respectively. The total number of schools was 111 as of February 28, 2022.

Michael Yu, New Oriental’s Executive Chairman, commented, “Although the Company is in a restructuring phase, we are pleased to see a promising trend in our remaining key businesses and a positive momentum across many of our new initiatives. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, our remaining key business, the overseas test preparation and overseas study consulting business increased by 15% year-over-year. Our domestic test preparation business targeting adults and university students recorded a rapid growth of approximately 59% year-over-year. Simultaneously, we are actively exploring various new business opportunities, including non-academic tutoring, intelligent learning system and devices, study tour and research camp, educational materials and digitalized smart study solutions, as well as exam preparation courses designed for students with junior college diplomas to obtain bachelor’s degrees. These new businesses are at their early stage but we firmly believe they present a bright future for the Company, and we are confident that by leveraging our brand recognition and educational resources accumulated over our operating history, these new businesses will start to contribute meaningful revenue from the next fiscal year.”

Chenggang Zhou, New Oriental’s Chief Executive Officer, added, “During the last two fiscal quarters, we have largely completed our restructuring of businesses and operations to comply with the government policies in China. The total number of schools and learning centers was reduced to 847 by end of this fiscal quarter. Looking ahead, we will continue our efforts in developing and revamping our online-merge-offline teaching platform, and keep leveraging our educational infrastructure and technology strength across our remaining key businesses and new initiatives to provide more advanced and diversified educational services to our customers of all ages. Our pure online education platform, Koolearn.com, continued to expand online educational offerings to adults and university students, and actively seek business opportunities in new areas, including livestream commerce business, institutional cooperation and new intelligent learning innovations.”

Stephen Zhihui Yang, New Oriental’s Executive President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, ” We maintained a strong cash position throughout the whole restructuring process. By the end of this quarter, our cash and cash equivalents, term deposits and short-term investments totaled approximately US$4.4 billion. In the first half of this fiscal year, the Company incurred considerable costs due to the termination of lease agreements in relation to the closure of its learning centers and employee layoffs. We believe that the loss caused by the restructuring is temporary. We are confident in the sustainable profitability of all our remaining key businesses, as well as the growth and profit potential of our new initiatives. The Company’s management team will continue to work together to seek profitable growth. Our continued commitment to high quality services and operational efficiency will generate more values to our customers, society and shareholders over the long term.”

Financial Results for the Third Fiscal Quarter Ended February 28, 2022

Net Revenues

For the third fiscal quarter of 2022, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$614.1 million, representing a 48.4% decrease year-over-year. Net revenues from educational programs and services for the third fiscal quarter were US$506.4 million, representing a 54.1% decrease year-over-year. The decline was mainly due to the cessation of K-9 academic after-school tutoring services in order to comply with the government policies in China.

Operating Costs and Expenses

Operating costs and expenses for the quarter were US$755.3 million, representing a 30.6% decrease year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses for the quarter, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$725.3 million, representing a 32.5% decrease year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction of facilities and number of staff as a result of the restructuring in the last two fiscal quarters.

Cost of revenues decreased by 30.9% year-over-year to US$372.7 million.
Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 40.0% year-over-year to US$93.7 million.
General and administrative expenses for the quarter decreased by 26.6% year-over-year to US$288.8 million. Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$259.6 million, representing a 32.3% decrease year-over-year.

Total share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to related operating costs and expenses, increased by 107.8% to US$30.0 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2022. The increase is due to the grants of restricted share units of the Company to employees and directors in May 2021 with graded vesting over three years.

Operating Loss / Income and Operating Margin

Operating loss was US$141.2 million, compared to an income of US$101.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the quarter was US$111.2 million, compared to an income of US$115.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the quarter was negative 23.0%, compared to 8.5% in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, for the quarter was negative 18.1%, compared to 9.7% in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Loss / Income and Net Loss per ADS

Net loss attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$122.4 million, compared to an income of US$151.3 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.72 and US$0.72, respectively.

Non-GAAP Net Loss / Income and Non-GAAP Net Loss per ADS

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$95.5 million, compared to an income of US$163.2 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.56 and US$0.56, respectively.

Cash Flow

Net operating cash outflow for the third fiscal quarter of 2022 was approximately US$235.0 million and capital expenditures for the quarter were US$37.4 million.

Balance Sheet

As of February 28, 2022, New Oriental had cash and cash equivalents of US$1,466.8 million. In addition, the Company had US$915.1 million in term deposits and US$2,028.1 million in short-term investment.

New Oriental’s deferred revenue balance, which is cash collected from registered students for courses and recognized proportionally as revenue as the instructions are delivered, at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 was US$971.3 million, a decrease of 47.9% as compared to US$1,865.7 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2021. The decrease is primarily due to the cessation of K-9 academic after-school tutoring services in order to comply with the government policies in China.

Financial Results for the Nine Months Ended February 28, 2022

For the first nine months of fiscal year 2022, New Oriental reported net revenues of 2,581.2 million, representing a 15.8% decrease year-over-year.

Loss from operations for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$876.9 million, compared to an income of US$219.6 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP loss from operations for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$772.7 million, compared to an income of US$268.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was negative 34.0%, compared to 7.2% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022, was negative 29.9%, compared to 8.8% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net loss attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$998.4 million, compared to an income of US$379.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 amounted to US$5.89 and US$5.89, respectively.

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 was US$885.9 million, compared to an income of US$416.9 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 amounted to US$5.22 and US$5.22, respectively.

Conference Call Information

New Oriental’s management will host an earnings conference call at 8 AM on April 26, 2022, U.S. Eastern Time (8 PM on April 26, 2022, Beijing/Hong Kong Time). Participants can join the conference using the below options:

Dialling-in to the conference call:

Please register in advance of the conference, using the link provided below. Upon registering, you will be provided with participant dial-in numbers, passcode and unique registrant ID.

Conference call registration link: http://apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/7678797. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of “New Oriental Third Fiscal Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call” where you may fill in your details for RSVP. If it requires you to enter a participant conference ID, please enter “7678797”.

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial in number(s), direct event passcode and registrant ID) provided in the confirmation email received at the point of registering.

Joining the conference call via a live webcast:

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investor.neworiental.org.

Listening to the conference call replay:

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until May 4, 2022:

International:	+61 2 90034211
Passcode:	7678797

About New Oriental

New Oriental is a provider of private educational services in China offering a wide range of educational programs, services and products to a varied student population throughout China. New Oriental’s program, service and product offerings mainly consist of test preparation, language training for adults, education materials and distribution, online education, and other services. New Oriental is listed on NYSE (NYSE: EDU) and SEHK (9901.SEHK), respectively. New Oriental’s ADSs, each of which represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE.

For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://www.neworiental.org/english/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as New Oriental’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. New Oriental may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our ability to attract students without a significant decrease in course fees; our ability to continue to hire, train and retain qualified teachers; our ability to maintain and enhance our “New Oriental” brand; our ability to effectively and efficiently manage the expansion of our school network and successfully execute our growth strategy; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to copyright and other intellectual property rights; competition in the private education sector in China; changes in our revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the expected growth of the Chinese private education market; Chinese governmental policies relating to private educational services and providers of such services; health epidemics and other outbreaks in China; and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement New Oriental’s consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, New Oriental uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the SEC: net income / (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments, operating income / (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating cost and expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating margin excluding share-based compensation expenses, and basic and diluted net income / (loss) per ADS and per share excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned “Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures” set forth at the end of this release.

New Oriental believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments that may not be indicative of its operating performance from a cash perspective. New Oriental believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to New Oriental’s historical performance and liquidity. New Oriental believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP measures is that they exclude share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of long-term investments that has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables have more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Sisi Zhao Ms. Rita Fong
New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.     FTI Consulting
Tel:         +86-10-6260-5568 Tel:        +852 3768 4548
Email:     zhaosisi@xdf.cn Email:    rita.fong@fticonsulting.com

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands)
	As of February 28	As of May 31
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Audited)
	USD	USD
ASSETS:
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	1,466,779	1,612,211
Term deposits	915,103	1,214,025
Short-term investments	2,028,129	3,434,726
Accounts receivable, net	14,314	8,667
Inventory, net	30,732	31,175
Prepaid expenses and other current assets, net	207,369	269,233
Amounts due from related parties, current	29,628	4,118
Total current assets	4,692,054	6,574,155

Restricted cash, non-current	44,463	19,916
Property and equipment, net	516,938	865,030
Land use rights, net	3,859	13,989
Amounts due from related parties, non-current	1,687	4,157
Long-term deposits	36,080	74,796
Intangible assets, net	3,291	4,836
Goodwill, net	73,757	73,254
Long-term investments, net	582,703	537,749
Deferred tax assets, non-current, net	18,675	103,587
Right-of-use assets	688,234	1,857,533
Other non-current assets	7,481	22,051
Total assets	6,669,222	10,151,053

LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable (including accounts payable of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$36,032 and US$25,108 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively)	28,001	38,441
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities (including accrued expenses and other current liabilities of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$900,877 and US$601,432 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively)	602,470	908,231
Income taxes payable (including income tax payable of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$46,248 and US$64,019 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively)	72,528	84,321
Amounts due to related parties (including amounts due to related parties of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$33 and US$21 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively)	21	33
Deferred revenue (including deferred revenue of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$1,923,007 and US$969,453 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28,2022, respectively)	971,255	1,926,386
Operating lease liability-current (including operating lease liabilities-current of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$501,049 and US$210,787 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively)	215,660	514,033

Total current liabilities	1,889,935	3,471,445

Deferred tax liabilities, non-current (including deferred tax liabilities of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$12,924 and US$18,269 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively)	18,551	13,172
Unsecured senior notes (including unsecured senior notes of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to the New Oriental of nil and nil as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively)	113,174	297,631
Operating lease liabilities (including operating lease liabilities of the consolidated variable interest entities without recourse to New Oriental of US$1,333,961 and US$534,881 as of May 31, 2021 and February 28, 2022, respectively)	542,980	1,350,629

Total long-term liabilities	674,705	1,661,432

Total liabilities	2,564,640	5,132,877

Equity
New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. shareholders’ equity	4,022,771	4,913,275
Non-controlling interests	81,811	104,901
Total equity	4,104,582	5,018,176

Total liabilities and equity	6,669,222	10,151,053

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)

	For the Three Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD
Net revenues	614,091	1,190,498

Operating cost and expenses (note 1)
Cost of revenues	372,747	539,499
Selling and marketing	93,706	156,084
General and administrative	288,832	393,445

Total operating cost and expenses	755,285	1,089,028
Operating (loss)/income	(141,194)	101,470
Gain/(Loss) from fair value change of long-term investments	1,072	(2,443)

Other income, net	35,702	68,077
Provision for income taxes	(16,863)	(46,971)
(Loss)/Gain from equity method investments	(4,366)	6,509
Net (loss)/income	(125,649)	126,642

Add: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests	3,210	24,684
Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc.’s shareholders	(122,439)	151,326


Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2)	(0.07)	0.09

Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2)	(0.07)	0.09

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2)	(0.72)	0.90

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2)	(0.72)	0.89

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES
(In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)

	For the Three Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD

General and administrative expenses	288,832	393,445
Less: Share-based compensation expenses in general and administrative expenses	29,222	10,108
Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses	259,610	383,337

Total operating cost and expenses	755,285	1,089,028
Less: Share-based compensation expenses	29,962	14,422
Non-GAAP operating cost and expenses	725,323	1,074,606

Operating (loss)/income	(141,194)	101,470
Add: Share-based compensation expenses	29,962	14,422
Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income	(111,232)	115,892

Operating margin	-23.0%	8.5%
Non-GAAP operating margin	-18.1%	9.7%

Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental	(122,439)	151,326
Add: Share-based compensation expenses	28,008	9,467
Less: Gain/(loss) from fair value change of long-term investments	1,072	(2,443)
Non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental	(95,503)	163,236

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Basic (note 2)	(0.72)	0.90
Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Diluted (note 2)	(0.72)	0.89

Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Basic (note 2)	(0.56)	0.97
Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Diluted (note 2)	(0.56)	0.96

Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net (loss)/income per ADS (note 2)	1,696,966,183	1,689,712,150
Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net (loss)/income per ADS (note 2)	1,696,966,183	1,695,315,497

Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share – basic	(0.06)	0.10
Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share – diluted	(0.06)	0.10

Notes:

Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating cost and expenses as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD
Cost of revenues	48	2,393
Selling and marketing	692	1,921
General and administrative	29,222	10,108
Total	29,962	14,422


NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)

			For the Three Months Ended February 28
			2022	2021
			(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
			USD	USD

Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities			(234,965)	23,314
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities			753,586	(1,122,254)
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities			(66,727)	13,364
Effect of exchange rate changes			9,218	23,644

Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash			461,112	(1,061,932)

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period			1,050,130	2,648,124

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period			1,511,242	1,586,192

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)

	For the Nine Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD
Net revenues	2,581,223	3,064,553

Operating costs and expenses (note 1):
Cost of revenues	1,506,464	1,458,028
Selling and marketing	371,109	406,555
General and administrative	1,580,514	980,342

Total operating costs and expenses	3,458,087	2,844,925
Operating (loss)/income	(876,864)	219,628
Loss from fair value change of investments	(13,251)	(4,597)

Other income, net	33,344	195,578
Provision for income taxes	(130,694)	(112,910)
(Loss)/gain from equity method investments	(46,144)	7,556
Net (loss)/income	(1,033,609)	305,255

Add: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests	35,190	74,625
Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc.	(998,419)	379,880


Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2)	(0.59)	0.23

Net (loss)/income per share attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2)	(0.59)	0.23

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Basic (note 2)	(5.89)	2.33

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Diluted (note 2)	(5.89)	2.32

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES
(In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)

	For the Nine Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD

General and administrative expenses	1,580,514	980,342
Less: Share-based compensation expenses in general and administrative expenses	106,698	34,655
Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses	1,473,816	945,687

Total operating costs and expenses	3,458,087	2,844,925
Less: Share-based compensation expenses	104,184	48,735
Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses	3,353,903	2,796,190

Operating (loss)/income	(876,864)	219,628
Add: Share-based compensation expenses	104,184	48,735
Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income	(772,680)	268,363

Operating margin	-34.0%	7.2%
Non-GAAP operating margin	-29.9%	8.8%

Net (loss)/income attributable to New Oriental	(998,419)	379,880
Add: Share-based compensation expenses	99,269	32,425
Less: Loss from fair value change of long-term investments	(13,251)	(4,597)
Non-GAAP net (loss)/income to New Oriental	(885,899)	416,902

Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental- Basic (note 2)	(5.89)	2.33
Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental- Diluted (note 2)	(5.89)	2.32

Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Basic (note 2)	(5.22)	2.56
Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to New Oriental – Diluted (note 2)	(5.22)	2.55

Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net (loss)/income per ADS (note 2)	1,696,234,912	1,630,427,098
Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net (loss)/income per ADS (note 2)	1,696,234,912	1,637,074,362

Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share – basic	(0.52)	0.26
Non-GAAP (loss)/income per share – diluted	(0.52)	0.25

Notes:

Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating costs and expenses as follows:

	For the Nine Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD
Cost of revenues	(157)	6,229
Selling and marketing	(2,357)	7,851
General and administrative	106,698	34,655
Total	104,184	48,735

Note 2: Each ADS represents ten common shares. For the three and nine months ended February 28, 2021, the weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the ADS ratio change from each ADS representing one common share to each ADS representing ten common shares, which became effective on April 8, 2022.

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)

	For the Nine Months Ended February 28
	2022	2021
	(Unaudited)	(Unaudited)
	USD	USD

Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities	(1,309,800)	825,590
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities	1,406,960	(1,919,054)
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities	(179,986)	1,654,835
Effect of exchange rate changes	(38,059)	105,397

Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash	(120,885)	666,768

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period	1,632,127	919,424

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period	1,511,242	1,586,192

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-oriental-announces-results-for-the-third-fiscal-quarter-ended-february-28-2022-301532876.html

Source: New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.

PR Newswire

Crystal International Steps Up Systems Transformation & Productivity with SAP Solutions

April 25, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

HONG KONG, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Crystal International Group, a global leader in apparel manufacturing headquartered in Hong Kong, is leveraging an array of SAP solutions to power its journey to become a future-enabled Intelligent Enterprise. Throughout its end-to-end business processes, spanning operations in multiple regions, Crystal has embedded SAP’s solutions to power its product lifecycle management, enterprise resource planning, finance, human resources and manufacturing functions, data management system, analytics and automation. These deployments have enabled Crystal to enhance product customization, shorten delivery timeframes and optimize order fulfillment.

SAP solutions have been supporting Crystal for over two decades. From the early adoption of SAP ERP systems to its latest iteration SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Crystal is progressing to accelerate the systems transformation of its vertical apparel business with SAP S/4HANA for Fashion and Vertical Business, SAP S/4HANA Finance, SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation, SAP Manufacturing Execution, SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence, SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP SuccessFactors.

By standardizing, simplifying and automating business processes, SAP solutions have optimized the company’s apparel manufacturing capacity to increase yields and minimize waste. As a result, Crystal’s aggregate business outcomes generated by these deployments include a 140% productivity improvement and a 21% revenue increment year-on-year in 2021, with order fulfillment efficiency boosted by 19%.

“Serving some of the world’s most well-known fashion brands, we run our operations at speed to capture ever-changing market opportunities and drive business growth,” said Karl Ting, IS, General Manager, Corporate Information Services, Crystal Group. “For more than 20 years, SAP’s dynamic solutions have helped us design, build and operate on a global scale, most recently enabling us to co-create with customers and optimize our multi-country manufacturing platform with SAP S/4HANA. This transformation has set us on the path to becoming an Intelligent Enterprise, and we look forward to continuing on this promising trajectory with SAP as our trusted partner.”

In addition, SAP solutions have enabled Crystal to integrate various production systems into one centralized platform for efficiency and innovation. By integrating data sources from different factories and locations across its entire operation, Crystal’s decision-makers can responsively help customers achieve unique product specifications with data-powered visibility and business intelligence. Meanwhile, Crystal continues to customize and automate manufacturing processes and workflows to optimize operations and costs, enhancing efficiency while reducing raw material consumption and waste discharge.

Rajni Sharma, Managing Director, SAP Hong Kong, said, “The global apparel industry is in a whirlwind of transformation, and success is defined by digital readiness, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Apparel manufacturers are confronting a multitude of challenges from resource management and product customization, to increasing costs and ever shorter delivery timelines – all of these mean the industry must push the envelope to a level never seen before. SAP has a host of software products to support companies like Crystal to optimize their entire operation, including design, manufacturing, and order fulfillment. We look forward to enabling customers to generate insights from operational data for better decision-making, improved workflow and increased automation.”

Crystal plans to deploy SAP Manufacturing Execution / Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence applications soon. After that, its next significant step will be leveraging scalable AI technologies and machine learning applications to further accelerate systems transformation to strengthen business resilience.

About SAP

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com/hk.

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 20-F.

© 2022 SAP SE. All rights reserved.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.

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Databricks Announces Lakehouse Offering for Customers in the Media and Entertainment Industries

April 21, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

The Databricks Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment launches with early support from AWS, Cognizant, Fivetran, Labelbox and Lovelytics

SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Databricks, the Data and AI company and pioneer of the data lakehouse paradigm, today launched the first lakehouse platform for data-driven businesses in the media and entertainment industry. The Lakehouse for Media & Entertainment enables organizations across the media ecosystem to deliver better data and AI outcomes for consumers, advertisers and media partners with a single and collaborative platform for data, analytics and AI. Early adopters include Databricks customers like Acxiom, Warner Bros. Discovery, and SEGA. Databricks is also working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and industry partners like Cognizant, Fivetran, Labelbox and Lovelytics.

With use case accelerators, custom Brickbuilder Solutions and a robust partner ecosystem, businesses will be able to deliver a personalized consumer experience, prepare for consumer analytics at scale, and empower greater collaboration and secure data sharing among media teams. The Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment incorporates data solutions and use-case accelerators for critical industry use cases like AI-driven recommendation engines, customer lifetime value and churn, quality of experience, community toxicity analysis, advertising optimization and more.

With Databricks, organizations can leverage all of their data to build a holistic view of their audience and advertisers, make real-time decisions and drive innovation with advanced analytics. With support for real-time analytics, business intelligence (BI), and powerful AI capabilities on all data types, Databricks enables media organizations to use all of their data – including images, video and other unstructured data types – to develop a holistic understanding of their customers.

“Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment is central to how we engage with players and streamline our data science function here at SEGA. The lakehouse platform means that data sets are available all in one centralized environment, enabling us to track key metrics to create more personalized experiences for players, drive community activities and to build our own machine learning algorithm to tailor games to our players. ” – Felix Baker, Manager, Data Services, SEGA Europe.

“With Databricks’ Lakehouse Platform on AWS, Warner Bros. Discovery is powering the future of content discovery and audience experiences. By leveraging data to better predict consumer behavior and provide personalized content recommendations in real-time, we are able to customize the viewer experience and improve overall engagement for our customers.” – Martin Ma, Group VP, Engineering at Warner Bros. Discovery.

“With a suite of data tools powered by Databricks and AWS, Acxiom is building data-driven strategies for clients that address the full marketing tech ecosystem and are designed to deliver actionable results that drive business impact. ” — David Skinner, Chief Strategy Officer, Acxiom.

“Being able to deliver more value through big data, analytics and AI is one of the top focus areas for media and entertainment organizations around the globe. We are delighted to support Databricks’ Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment on AWS, which will help customers produce smarter consumer experiences, better advertiser outcomes and an enhanced content lifecycle through the power of data.” – Marc Aldrich, General Manager, Global Media & Entertainment at AWS

“Databricks is partnered with Cognizant to connect CSPs, content owners and OTT platform owners with extensive viewer experience insights, device usage and contextual awareness in real-time utilizing modern AIops capabilities. It unleashes advanced ad targeting, personalization and service enhancement based on aggregation en-masse not possible with single-purpose QoE solutions in the market.” — Tiran Dagan, Cognizant’s CDO and Industry Head for CMT.

Powerful industry solutions customized for the data lakehouse

Designed to jumpstart the analytics process, Lakehouse for Media & Entertainment Solution Accelerators offer a blueprint of data analytics and machine learning use cases and best practices to save weeks or months of development time for an organization’s data engineers and data scientists. Popular solution accelerators pre-built for Databricks customers across the media and entertainment industry include:

Recommendation Engines: Create more personalized experiences for customers with AI-powered content recommendations that drive engagement and monetization opportunities.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Easily identify and better understand the most valuable customers with CLV models that focus on spending patterns and retention to help guide better marketing investments and product development choices.
Streaming Quality of Service: Increase viewer retention and analyze both streaming and batch data sets to ensure a performant streaming content experience that drives engagement and loyalty.
Toxicity Detection for Gaming: Cultivate healthier gaming communities by leveraging natural language processing for the real-time detection of toxic language from in-game user comments and chats.

Databricks Partners deliver deeper functionality for M&E customers

Along with AWS and consulting partners like Cognizant and Lovelytics are accelerating the adoption of the lakehouse platform by developing Brickbuilder Solutions for the Media and Entertainment industry, tailor-made to combine the power of the Databricks Lakehouse Platform with the proven experience of partners. The Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment launches with additional support and capabilities from leading technology partners Labelbox and Fivetran.

AWS for Media and Entertainment: AWS aligns purpose-built M&E capabilities specifically for the data and analytics space. AWS and Databricks have a long history of helping M&E organizations transform their direct-to-consumer, advertising and content businesses with the power of big data, analytics and AI.
Video Quality of Experience by Cognizant: Enables lakehouse customers to mitigate video quality issues that drive viewers to churn – whether it’s playback failure, delayed time-to-first-frame, or a rebuffing issue. Cognizant’s solution pairs fine-grained telemetry data with AI/ML to quickly identify and remedy video quality issues in near real-time.
Sports and Entertainment Analytics by Lovelytics: Brings streaming data to life including optimizing baseball’s Statcast data to help teams at every level analyze thousands of data points on player performance throughout the season. With AI and predictive analytics to predict and forecast performance, the Lovelytics solution enables sports and entertainment organizations to optimize strategy in-game as well as the fan and live event experience.
Labelbox for Media: Labelbox is a training data platform used to produce high-quality training data from images, video, and text – a challenge for many media organizations given their businesses revolve around unstructured data. Combining Databricks and Labelbox gives customers an ideal environment for unstructured data workflows and deriving value from their media assets.
360 Views with Fivetran: A data integration service, Fivetran integrates over 180+ data sources across operational, ad and mar tech data sources. For media publishers, Fivetran automates ingestion from dozens of data sources into Databricks’ Lakehouse allowing the business to build a 360-degree view of their customers that improves targeting and drives revenue.

“Executing on a strategy around data, analytics and AI is more critical than ever for media companies to remain agile, competitive and data-driven as audience demands change with the rapidly evolving media landscape,” said Steve Sobel, Global Industry Leader for Media & Entertainment at Databricks. “We are thrilled to collaborate with industry leaders like AWS, Cognizant, Fivetran, Labelbox and Lovelytics to bring the Databricks Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment to the industry, and enable media leaders to personalize, monetize and innovate in delivering smarter, 1;1 experiences for consumer and advertisers across the globe.”

For more information, visit Databricks’ Lakehouse for Media and Entertainment homepage. If you are attending the NAB Show 2022, visit Databricks with AWS at booth W3500.

About Databricks

Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 7,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, H&M, and over 40% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Lakehouse Platform to unify their data, analytics and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe. Founded by the original creators of Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow, Databricks is on a mission to help data teams solve the world’s toughest problems. To learn more, follow Databricks on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Press Contact:
Press@databricks.com

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Stamus Networks Supports NATO Cyber Defense Exercises

April 20, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

The company to provide advanced technology and experts to support the international live-fire exercise

TALLINN, Estonia, April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Stamus Networks, a global provider of high-performance network-based threat detection and response systems, today announced it is once again participating in Exercise Locked Shields (LS22), organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, Estonia.

Stamus Networks Supports NATO Cyber Defense (Locked Shields) Exercises

Exercise Locked Shields is the largest and most complex international live-fire cyber defense exercise in the world. An annual event, Exercise Locked Shields has been organized by the CCDCOE since 2010 and is a red team (attackers) vs. blue team (defenders) exercise with teams formed by member nations and partners of CCDCOE. This year there are 24 blue teams participating with an average of 50 experts in each team. The blue teams take on the role of national cyber rapid reaction teams that are deployed to assist a fictional country in handling a large-scale cyber incident.

Locked Shields uses realistic technologies to train national defense teams in an exercise environment based on a fictional scenario. According to the CCDCOE, the need for collaborative exercises such as LS22 has become even more evident during the current global pandemic and current European geopolitical situation. Societies have become more dependent on virtual solutions to ensure continuity of societal functions during the pandemic. This has greatly increased the attack surface for malicious actors and requires effective collaboration between public and private entities to ensure the systems we depend on can be protected.

“Many of our long-term partners have contributed substantially to the success of the Exercise over the years” said Colonel Jaak Tarien, director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). “These partners include NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, the Estonian Ministry of Defence, the Estonian Defence Forces and several private companies such as Stamus Networks. We are incredibly grateful for all their contributions.”

Since 2016, Stamus Networks has worked with the CCDCOE in multiple exercises by contributing expert personnel and its network security solutions, including its advanced network detection and response (NDR) system – the Stamus Security Platform.

“We partner with the CCDCOE for these exercises which are designed to strengthen the defensive capabilities of our NATO allies because we have made it our mission to develop and support tools that make the job of cyber defenders easier and more impactful,” said Ken Gramley, CEO of Stamus Networks. “In addition, Locked Shield gives us a world-class proving ground for the new capabilities we incorporate in our network-based threat detection and response solutions.”

To learn more about the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) and the Exercise Locked Shields, visit the website: https://ccdcoe.org/exercises/locked-shields/.

About Stamus Networks
Stamus Networks believes in a world where defenders are heroes, and a future where those they protect remain safe. As organizations face threats from well-funded adversaries, we relentlessly pursue solutions that make the defender’s job easier and more impactful. A global provider of high-performance network-based threat detection and response systems, Stamus Networks helps enterprise security teams know more, respond sooner and mitigate their risk with insights gathered from cloud and on-premise network activity. Our solutions are advanced network detection and response systems that expose serious and imminent threats to critical assets and empower rapid response. For more information visit: stamus-networks.com.

PR Newswire

Kakao Brain Unveils Efficient Text-to-Image Generator, RQ-Transformer, on GitHub

April 20, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

Doubled the sampling speed compared to company’s ‘minDALL-E’ model
Achieved enhanced quality and faster sampling speed by configuring high-resolution images as low-resolution 3D tensors
Technology to be presented at global computer vision conference, CVPR 2022

SEOUL, South Korea , April 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Kakao Brain has announced that it published its advanced text-to-image generator Residual-Quantized (RQ) Transformer on open-source community GitHub^[1] in late March. RQ-Transformer, the text-to-image AI technology comprised of 3.9 billion parameters and 30 million text-image pairs, significantly improves the quality of generated images while reducing computational costs and achieving a sampling speed that exceeds every other text-to-image generator available worldwide.

RQ-Transformer successfully addresses the high computational costs and slow image generation of existing models. By primarily leveraging the residual quantization technique, which uses a fixed size of codebook to recursively quantize the feature map in a coarse-to-fine manner instead of simply increasing codebook size, RQ-Transformer is able to learn more information in a shorter period of time.

Boasting the highest number of parameters with 3.9 billion in Korea as well as the fastest sampling speed among Kakao Brain’s text-to-image AI models, RQ-Transformer outperforms the 1.4-billion-parameter minDALL-E, another open-source text-to-image model created by Kakao Brain, with double the sampling speed.

RQ-Transformer can understand text combinations it sees for the first time and create a corresponding image. Sample images generated on the text condition, ‘the Eiffel Tower in the desert,’ are shown below:

Sample images generated on the text condition, ‘the Eiffel Tower in the desert’

RQ-Transformer is just the beginning of Kakao Brain’s technology as it puts forward the fundamental technology that enables rapid image generation while maintaining cutting-edge performance. With this technology as its cornerstone, Kakao Brain plans to strengthen this model and improve the quality of images generated via computer programs, learn more data with greater cost-effectiveness, and build technologies that go beyond simply generating images on fed information to help humans visualize the ideas in their head on screen.

Recognized for its all-around superior approach, the text-to-image technology was selected to be presented at CVPR 2022,^[2] an annual global computer vision conference which will be held in June this year. To uphold a high standard in its technologies, Kakao Brain’s Generative Model (GM) Team, in charge of the research & development (R&D) of image generation models, will continue to finetune this model in the pursuit of even more sophisticated images and faster sampling speeds.

“The computer generating images based on human commands signifies the tech’s ability to distinguish and understand the intention behind the demand,” said Kim Il-doo, CEO of Kakao Brain. “We’re incredibly excited to see where this research leads us, and we believe that this revolutionary AI model marks the beginning of the journey to a future where humans and computers can communicate freely.”

More information on RQ-Transformer is available on GitHub at https://github.com/kakaobrain/rq-vae-transformer.

About Kakao Brain

Kakao Brain is a world-leading AI company boasting unparalleled AI technologies and research & development networks. The company was established by Kakao in 2017 to solve some of the globe’s biggest ‘unthinkable questions’ with solutions enabled by its lifestyle-transforming AI technologies. Constantly driving innovation in the world of technology, Kakao Brain has developed numerous groundbreaking AI services and models designed to enhance quality of life for thousands of people, including minDALL-E, KoGPT, CLIP/ALIGN, and RQ-Transformer. As a global pioneer of AI, Kakao Brain has the responsibility of fostering a vibrant tech community and robust R&D ecosystem as it carries out its mission to form new tech markets with endless potential. For more information, visit https://KakaoBrain.com/.

^[1] GitHub provides internet hosting for software development and is mostly used to host open-source projects. As of November 2021, GitHub is the largest source code host with over 73 million developers and 200 million repositories.

^[2] CVPR (Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition), co-sponsored by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and The Computer Vision Foundation (CVF) since 1983, is regarded as one of the most acknowledged annual conferences in the computer vision sector, along with European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) and International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV).

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Open a New Page: XPPen Launched Its Online Rebranding

April 16, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

SHENZHEN, April 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — On Apr. 15th, XPPen, a leader in digital painting, launched an online rebranding conference via the metaverse, amid much fanfare among Generation Z.

XPPen, which already holds a special place in this industry, brings out a brand new slogan of “Dream. Brave. True” for the young generation with Gen Z at its core and the new brand philosophy of “Boundless Inspiration for Authentic Creation.”

Online Launch for XPPen Rebranding Campaign

Recently, it released a rebranding announcement online and its new logo of an innovative visual identity. The conference hosted by the virtual figure Fenix, mascot of XPPen this time, further interpreted its new brand vision and core philosophy.

According to the official announcer of XPPen, it has gradually established a new product layout in the preparation process of rebranding since 2021. Currently, XPPen boasts two categories and 5 series, including the Deco pen tablets and the Artist pen displays.

Last year, XPPen made a groundbreaking leap in the core technology of X3 smart chip with its self research and development, to realize the remarkable painting experience of “sharp, stable and precise”, break up the industry technology monopoly by shooting the chronic pain points of “lagging, delay, heavy stroke, broken lines, instability and frequency interference”, and thus fully realize the realistic pen and paper drawing experience.

From what we can tell, XPPen has been long worked profoundly with the globally award-winning brands proactively, exploring the authentic aspirations of the young group, whether it’s in the collaborations with world-renowned brands, such as LINE FRIENDS, associations with internationally noted artists, or active engagements in a series of various animation fairs. Sitting on such a converging spot of both tech and art, XPPen has realized that, its fate has been deeply connected with the growth of the young generation.

“Art Star” CG talent training programme, an art communication community encompassing Xfans, CG CAMP and other platforms, and a joint proposition with National Advertising Art Design Competition for College Students, are all provided by XPPen to encourage the art creators and enthusiasts to pursue their dreams and express their real selves. Through these endless efforts, XPPen is constantly pushing forward the overall CG ecosystem development by a feat of continuous exploration of infinite digital art possibilities, to bring creative producers in line with international standards.

For XPPen, a brand of 17 years, choosing to rebrand itself for a transformative and overall upgrade at such an important juncture, it’s an opportunity and yet a challenge. In the future, what other harvests and surprises will XPPen bring us? Ultimately, time will have the final say.

PR Newswire

FPT Software: How to Turn Dreamers into Doers & Harness the Power of Intrapreneurship

April 13, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

Intrapreneurship is always welcomed by tech giants, where innovations are greatly valued, going way back from when Gmail was born out of Google’s famous 20-percent rule. Mr. Dang Hoa Tran – COO of FPT Software shared his take on making intrapreneurship the key to growing global IT business.

HANOI, Vietnam, April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — In Vietnam, FPT Software is one of the biggest names in paying close attention to intrapreneurs. Many notable solutions stemmed from this approach: akaBot, akaChain, akaVerse, Deep Clinics and Codelearn…. The reason this global tech firm focuses on building an internal “incubator hub” comes naturally: out of 20 years in the tech business, while they provide service according to the clients’ requests, new ideas always come up in the process in order to do a better job.

“If we pass the chance to transform an idea into a living, breathing product, we lay waste to our own mind,” said Mr. Dang Hoa Tran – the Chief Operation Officer of FPT Software, sharing his thoughts on intrapreneurship.

Tran Dang Hoa – COO, FPT Software

“In my 18 years working at FPT Software, I’ve witnessed many colleagues, my mentees, wanted to leave due to their unfulfilling desire to create their own products. And we had to choose, either to offer a way for them to come up with new things, what they want to do, or watch them go. Intrapreneurship is our way to create both challenge and motivation, pushing our staff to be more creative in the tech playground,” Mr.Hoa continued.

The COO is fully committed to boost the startup aspiration, since you can hardly find such a boiling excitement, stand-up-after-failure and never-sleep-on-success attitude in any other place. The youthfulness and dynamic energy swirling within a new startup have always amazed the veteran COO.

In a large company, it is a must to constantly encourage employees’ commitment and increase their enthusiasm. FPT Software took it to heart, weaving it into their human-centric approach of a unique culture. In the middle of it, the potential intrapreneurs are like intense fire: emitting both light and heat, they attract more and more like minded people.

To accompany the intrapreneurs on the bumpy road of startup, FPT Software developed an entire ecosystem of supports, including all the processes that might take up a large portion of your product fit time – which is the most important step at the beginning. If the product does not suffice, you already set yourself back a few steps in the race to get customers and investors.

Hoa further explained FPT Software approach on building the intrapreneurship: “The teams within our “incubator hub” get consulted by the top industry experts – either it’s finance, insurance, aviation, energy, or healthcare – so they get the best insights on any industry’s pain points. Besides horizontal consulting, in-depth, we have no lack of veteran tech experts who have over 20 years’ experience with international customers, for direct advice on the products.”

From his operation view, Hoa assessed that the most adoptable products are the ones that can solve the global pain points for companies of all sizes. The incubator group should exercise unbound creativity but shouldn’t fill in too big shoes like those of Google or Facebook.

“We train our intrapreneurs by letting them participate in large-scale “battles” with highly difficult customers as well as joining the major tech markets like The US, India or Europe,” Hoa explained.

The incubator is full of room to grow, for teams to mature through constant adjustment according to the customer or end-user request. Reality proves that an RPA-based product – akaBot by FPT Software – has made robotic automation the new breakthrough for banking service, liberating human effort by completing millions of repeated tasks. At the same time, the same technology can be applied to virtual bots for tasks automation, processing automatic invoice or virtual stakeholders meeting. This was especially effective during lockdown, when it helped various businesses operate without interruption on a large scale.

akaBot is also the RPA-based solution which has been ranked in Gartner’s top lists of outstanding RPA solutions multiple times, within the last 3 years since its birth.

“You see, a startup which constantly upgrades and transforms, both in quantity and quality of service, with actual feedback from end-users, together with direct consulting, can have such an explosive potential. But that is just the first step in the process, the product fit as I mentioned earlier. Naturally, operating a startup requires the founders to be fluent in a lot more other management spectrum,” he shared.

It is not easy for any startup to work on all aspects at once, from technology and the human resource, to marketing, sales and branding.

Should founders be able to overcome the beginning period, they would gradually gain more technical and managerial knowledge, which is, according to Hoa, something people must not take the shortcut through.

It takes a lot for a startup to spin off from their native company and break out into a unicorn, Hoa pointed out, in which luck plays no small part. The key to success, however, is that people must have all the elements at the right place: technical power, strong will and flexibility to adapt to any situation, making the impossible possible while keeping the solution’s unique features.

“FPT Software was once a startup too, 23 years ago. At that time, when no one in Vietnam did BPO with foreign partners or even thought of going past the border, we started it. You can say it was not all but being persistent, we faced various failures and must stand up again after each fall. Our people’s startup spirit is forever. Even the engineers, the experts within FPT Software have always nurtured their ideas, shaping and molding them into real-life products, even if the time can be measured by dozens of years,” Hoa proudly shared.

FPT Software also spent 8 years incubating to be the first company to design and produce “Make In Vietnam“* IC – Integrated Circuit. Today, the company is taking its first steps to realize this dream: they have founded FPT Semiconductor – the first fabless company under the FPT Software umbrella, and the first hardware product by FPT Software.

From their design house in Vietnam, the company sends the IC designs to its fabrication factory in Korea, where they produce and package the final products then send it straight to clients in Australia. By July 2022, FPT Semiconductor is expected to deliver its first unit, growing to 25 millions units in the next two years, catering to different needs from IoT, power energy, and so on. “I am extremely proud that the entire R&D process takes place right in Vietnam by our very top engineers at FPT Software,” Hoa expressed.

“Why do we join this market? You know, there are only a handful of companies producing IC worldwide, and the need always surpasses supply. On average everyone owns at least one IC, and this number can grow 3 to 10 fold in the future,” he stressed.

“The key to how we can harness the power to fulfill this dream is the startup spirit, forging our people through the years. We chose the right moment, at our best performance, to bring forward a new change, reigniting the flame in the heart of our organization, pushing forwards for ever growing operation,” FPT Software representative concluded.

Note:
* “Make In Vietnam” is a government program to accelerate technology innovation by local businesses.

PR Newswire

Criminal IP New Cybersecurity Search Engine launches first beta test

April 11, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

TORRANCE, Calif., April 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — AI Spera announced Criminal IP, a new cybersecurity platform, today. Criminal IP is a total Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) search engine intended to identify potential vulnerabilities that threatening companies or individuals’ IT assets. It also offers a new way to manage them comprehensively by allowing users to find results for malicious IP address, malicious domains, phishing sites, forged certificates, all IT assets, and other security related information immediately.

Criminal IP, a new cybersecurity search engine, will begin its first beta test on April 28, and is currently recruiting beta service testers.

The company has been recruiting beta service testers and plans to operate beta service for three months from April 28. Testers pre-registering for beta service will be given a three-month free license after the official launch and if testers participate in the service survey, they can receive an additional one-month free license as a reward.

Criminal IP visualizes all IT assets connected to the Internet based on IP addresses held by companies and individuals as well as provides all possible information about domains in real time, including network logs, used programming technologies and security-related information, without having to directly access websites.

Users can prevent security problems in advance by searching for vulnerabilities in IT assets and identifying cyber attackers’ attack points for attack surface management purposes through Criminal IP data. In addition, everything that has happened to a particular IP address can be recorded like a criminal record to track malicious behavior of an IP address.

“Above all, this platform is the ultimate comprehensive solution that maximizes user’s convenience by providing all CTI information distributed by different solutions in one place,”said Byungtak Kang, founder at AI Spera.

Features and benefits of Criminal IP include:

providing a wide range of cyber threat information, including malicious IPs, C&C domains, threat intelligence images and CVEs, etc., based on big data on 4.2 billion IP addresses and billions of domain addresses worldwide
analyzing all possible details about domains including screenshots, whois information, used technologies, connected IP addresses, certificates, network logs as well as security-oriented features like possible malicious contents and replicated phishing domains with DGA (Domain Generation Algorithm) score
searching and updating global IP addresses and domains in 24/7 to extract applications and services in use, and provide information on security vulnerabilities of IT assets to enable real-time automatic attack surface management
offering straightforward search result based on a wide range of specific search filters so that users can conveniently access the right information they need

For more information on Criminal IP’s range of service and beta test, visit https://bit.ly/37oxjJD.

About AI Spera: AI Spera is a fast-growing company in the field of cyber threat intelligence. Based on AI and Machine Learning technology, the company focuses on detection of anomalies and data-oriented security solutions. The company supports as many corporates, security developers and researchers as possible to view the attack surface through the eyes of an attacker and provide various AI-based intelligence security solutions across industries including online games, financial, security and national institutions.

Source: AI Spera Inc.

PR Newswire

VMware Launches New Regional Digital Hub to Foster Greater Innovation and Inclusive Growth in Asia

April 8, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

Interactive, state-of-the-art technologies are key for enabling businesses to tap VMware’s solutions and global expertise in realizing innovation aspirations in the region

SINGAPORE, April 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), a leading innovator in enterprise software, today announced the launch of its new Regional Digital Innovation Hub in Singapore. Singapore’s government is a driver of smart nation initiatives with a strong digital policy agenda which VMware applauds. The government was today represented by Mr. Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth, who officially opened VMware’s digital innovation hub. In attendance was also Chad Norberg, Economic Unit Chief, United States Embassy.

The Regional Digital Innovation Hub will bolster Southeast Asia’s growth as a burgeoning, vibrant technological hub and is dedicated to empowering businesses to navigate the new future of work. It also joins nine other Virtual Briefing Centers located in key markets around the world including Bangalore, Beijing, Tokyo, and Sydney in the Asia Pacific. Tapping into Singapore’s strategic location as the No.1 innovation epicenter outside of Silicon Valley^[1] and a critical gateway for businesses to access the rest of Southeast Asia, the new center aims to empower businesses with a clear vision on how to implement technology frameworks and solutions that addresses their unique business challenges across the region.

“With ASEAN on track to become a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2030^[2] and the region’s emergence as an innovation powerhouse, we are committed to accelerating businesses to the future by helping them visualize and implement their digital roadmaps,” said Paul Simos, Vice President and Managing Director of Southeast Asia and Korea at VMware.

“The future of business is digital, and we hope to create a competitive edge for our customers by building a secure place for them to experiment and experience how future technologies can be built into their systems before they are enacted in real life, so that they can anticipate what lies ahead and attain full autonomy on their innovation cycle,” said Simos.

The state-of-the-art hub is equipped with cutting-edge tools like digital whiteboarding, virtual reality (VR) and a personalized experience utilizing radio-frequency identification (RFID). Using the Virtual Briefing Center (VBC), business leaders can explore VMware solutions, collaborate with experts, and experience in-depth demonstrations through both hybrid and online briefings. Hybrid briefings leverage physical engagement with the center’s wall-size display with navigational touch controls and interactive whiteboarding functions to better visualize ideas and concepts, while flexible collaborative tools facilitate discussions with online attendees. Additionally, mixed spaces for small group collaborations and a digital lounge for private meetings can be customized to meet needs of each meeting.

The VBC features four state-of-the-art and next-gen technologies that foster inventive idea exchange and brings to life a modern vision that highlights an organization’s strengths and unpacks specific challenges and constraints by designing a customized roadmap with solutions that address one’s top business priorities.

The four demo zones showcase the possibilities with technology around the areas of:

Advanced IT in a digital hub for the future of work
Accelerating the digital employee experience
Moving towards Zero IT and Tanzu Labs
Enabling innovation with Tanzu Labs

Connected to all of VMware’s other VBCs across the globe, the center also allows for businesses to connect with technical experts and teams from anywhere in the world to unpack technical constraints and design customized technology roadmaps with glove-fit solutions. This will enable business leaders to test current technologies, concepts, and pilot projects before official rollouts, serving as a secure innovation sandbox to build new innovative concepts and transformation roadmaps.

Expanding on its commitment to being an innovation and inclusivity center of excellence for the region, VMware also recently reopened its Singapore office redesigned with versatile, new facilities that focus on collaboration and autonomy to provide employees with greater options for how and where they work. With sustainability and inclusivity as a big focus, the WELL-certified office features air purifiers, recycling areas, yoga rooms with lockers, a jamming studio, and maternity rooms on select floors.

About VMware

VMware is a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. As a trusted foundation to accelerate innovation, VMware software gives businesses the flexibility and choice they need to build the future. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to building a better future through the company’s 2030 Agenda. For more information, please visit www.vmware.com/company.

Disclaimer: This article may contain hyperlinks to non-VMware websites that are created and maintained by third parties who are solely responsible for the content on such websites.

PR Newswire

Phai Labs releases whitepaper on building fairer AI for candidate screening

April 6, 2022 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

MELBOURNE, Australia, April 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Phai Labs, the R&D arm of PredictiveHire, has released the whitepaper that informed its FAIR^TM Framework, showing how bias in AI can be mitigated with the right steps when using AI for candidate screening.

The FAIR^TM Framework (short for Fair AI for Recruitment) received global recognition for its contribution to bias mitigation at the CogX awards.

Phai Labs is releasing the research to further the adoption of their framework and to generate broader interest in the opportunity that AI offers in mitigating bias in hiring.

“Initially my team and I set out to address the fact that badly designed AI systems can amplify bias in hiring, and in doing that, built a framework to monitor and mitigate it,” Chief Data Scientist Dr Buddhi Jayatilleke said.

“This research explores the properties that a machine learning system needs to demonstrate to establish a fairer process for job candidates.”

Based on the findings, Phai Labs identifies bias, validity, explainability and inclusivity as key measurable properties that AI tools in recruitment need to demonstrate.

These four aspects form the basis of fairness in AI-based recruitment tools, helping developers, employers and candidates ask the right questions when assessing or creating assessment tools.

“This whitepaper consolidates a lot of the current thinking around AI and bias, and we want to encourage as many people as possible to read it because this is such a new area of research,” PredictiveHire CEO Barb Hyman said. “Everyone working in this space is on a journey together and it’s important we share and learn from each other to build a better future through AI. Our whitepaper shows how mitigating bias with AI is possible, and that is definitely something that more people need to understand. We want more people to know how we can do this so it becomes the standard approach.”

Dr Jayatilleke said given this area of research is so new and fast-evolving, it was important his team shared their work broadly so they could get feedback from the community of AI practitioners and researchers. “We are inviting comments from other researchers working in this area. We want to make sure that our framework stands up to robust scientific inquiry.”

The whitepaper can be found on ResearchGate:

http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17622.73288

About PredictiveHire

PredictiveHire’s mission is to help companies unlock and engage talent at scale. Using the world’s first Smart Interviewer, powered by the world’s largest source of 1^st party proprietary text data and advanced Natural Language Processing, we turn simple text conversations into unprecedented talent intelligence enabling organisations to interrupt hiring bias at scale, get to the right talent fast and give every candidate an experience they love.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/phai-labs-releases-whitepaper-on-building-fairer-ai-for-candidate-screening-301518853.html

techENT

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Phai Labs releases whitepaper on building fairer AI for candidate screening

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