Day: February 9, 2022

The UK’s largest commercial source of news media audience will use Outbrain’s Smartfeed technology to grow revenue and drive engagement

1XL Chooses Outbrain as its Exclusive Recommendation Technology Partner in Multi-Year Deal

1XL Chooses Outbrain as its Exclusive Recommendation Technology Partner in Multi-Year Deal

LONDON, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In a release issued under the same headline earlier today by Outbrain Inc. (Nasdaq: OB), please note the following changes are made
– Paragraph 1: “Inc. (Nasdaq: OB)” was included after “Outbrain”
– Paragraph 3: “which allows” is replaced with “which provides tools for”
– Paragraph 4: “Outbrain’s Smartfeed will create prominent brand-safe spaces for advertisers to reach relevant consumers from 1XL’s 26.4 million user-base. Additionally, the deal will support highly targeted and personalized advertising campaigns, as well as feature prominent in-article placements, delivering a premium ad experience for top brands.” is rewritten as “With Outbrain’s Smartfeed, 1XL expects to create prominent brand-safe spaces for advertisers to reach relevant consumers from 1XL’s 30.9 million monthly user-base. Additionally, the deal will support targeted and personalized advertising campaigns, as well as feature prominent in-article placements, delivering a premium ad experience for top brands.” The corrected release follows:

Outbrain Inc. (Nasdaq: OB), a leading recommendation platform for the open web, today announced a new, multi-year deal with 1XL, the UK’s largest source of premium digital news media audiences as well as display inventory.

1XL, a division of Media Concierge and part of the Mediaforce Group, which owns the largest independent sales house in the UK, will adopt Outbrain as its exclusive recommendation provider. The strategic partnership will focus on growing revenue, supporting re-circulation and driving engagement including subscriptions across 1XL’s range of 43 established and trusted local news media publishers, including Newsquest, Johnston Press, Archant, Iliffe Media, and Tindle.

The deal will see 1XL rolling out Outbrain’s Smartfeed technology to diversify its revenue streams. Smartfeed provides customizable, dynamic, and tailored recommendations, which provides tools for media owners to optimize the user experience, improve engagement, and revenue. It acts as a blank canvas on which a suite of unique cards can be used to deliver editorial, monetization, and specific revenue goals, generating a 20% RPM uplift, when compared to Outbrain’s standard widgets.

With Outbrain’s Smartfeed, 1XL expects to create prominent brand-safe spaces for advertisers to reach relevant consumers from 1XL’s 30.9 million monthly user-base. Additionally, the deal will support targeted and personalized advertising campaigns, as well as feature prominent in-article placements, delivering a premium ad experience for top brands.

“Outbrain’s commitment to championing the open web and journalistic independence aligns with our mission to nurture a healthy presence of local publishers throughout the country,” said Scott Gill, Managing Director at 1XL. “Regional news outlets are essential to the UK’s democratic society and are an essential hub for local communities. Outbrain is a trusted and established partner whose best-in-class recommendation solution will support a range of growth objectives and, we feel, act in the interests of our publishers and their readers.”

“We consider the 1XL co-operative and its constituent publishers and sites valued partners that share our passion for providing unique, relevant, and engaging content,” said James Milne, Managing Director Northern Europe at Outbrain. “Overall, our placements, including our rich and highly viewable native in-article formats, will enhance the reader experience, diversify 1XL’s monetization strategies and bolster engagement. As a trusted partner, we are excited about the value our Smartfeed technology can offer across some of the UK’s oldest and most respected local news titles.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to possible or assumed future results of our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, plans and objectives. You can generally identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections regarding future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to risks, uncertainties and the risks described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and in subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

About Outbrain

Outbrain (Nasdaq: OB) is a leading recommendation platform for the open web. Our technology enables 10 billion daily recommendations to consumers across more than 7,000 online properties and connects advertisers to these audiences to grow their business. Founded in 2006, Outbrain is headquartered in New York with offices in 18 cities worldwide.

About 1XL
1XL is a digital media display proposition comprised of 43 local and regional news publishers. With over 700 sites throughout the UK and Ireland, and a de-duplicated unique user reach of 30.9 million monthly (67% UK active user reach – comScore) our offering provides at-scale access to over half of the UK digital population across highly trusted established news titles. In an era of constantly changing news habits and business models, our news brands remain a consistent part of our readers’ lives. With our established news sites and accompanying social media channels, specialist titles, and content micro-hubs, the 1XL portfolio offers the scale exceeding that of a national Newsbrand with the ability to reach users against almost every geographically and contextually relevant environment. 1XL is a division of Media Concierge which is part of the Mediaforce Group.

Media Contact 
press@outbrain.com

Investor Relations Contact 
IR@outbrain.com
(332) 205-8999

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/82579585-f906-4b42-96de-4d7d6cf083b4

Parties sign Memorandum of Understanding providing for MHA Nation to be gas supplier for clean hydrogen production

Bismarck, ND and Westlake Village, CA, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Clean hydrogen infrastructure developer Bakken Energy and its partner Mitsubishi Power Americas Inc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation laying the groundwork for MHA Nation to become the natural gas supplier for the Great Plains Hydrogen Hub.

“The MHA Nation is excited to become part of this world class clean hydrogen development,” said Mark N. Fox, Chairman of the MHA Nation. “Natural gas from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation will enable the clean energy we need to save our planet, and in the process will allow us to put in place the infrastructure needed to end the excessive flaring of natural gas on our lands, improving the quality of life of our members.”

“I believe it is possible to develop the clean energy our country needs while doing good in local communities,” said Jim Sinegal, Costco co-founder, retired CEO and a major shareholder in Bakken Energy. “Partnering with the MHA Nation allows our Great Plains Hydrogen Hub to do just that.”

“Bakken Energy’s Great Plains Hydrogen Hub is a bold undertaking, but we embrace it and we welcome with open arms the MHA Nation as a partner in this project,” said Steven Lebow, Chairman and Founder of Bakken Energy.  “For us, the Hub is the beginning of building the next great company in the clean energy field, focused on making clean, affordable hydrogen available to drive hydrogen adoption and accelerate decarbonization.”

The Great Plains Hydrogen Hub is the redevelopment of Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant, originally built in 1984, will serve the upper Midwest and is expected to be commercially operational in early 2027 when it will be one of the largest clean hydrogen production facilities in the United States with a gross production capacity of 348,000 metric tons/year of clean hydrogen and the cost of production will be the lowest in the country. The Great Plains Hydrogen Hub will be a regional hub, producing, delivering, and storing clean hydrogen for transportation, agriculture and other decarbonization needs in the upper Midwest. By using state-of-the-art auto thermal reforming, carbon capture and sequestration, the hydrogen will be 96% carbon-free. This transition to clean hydrogen production will cut carbon emissions by an estimated six million metric tons per year, or the equivalent of the carbon emitted from one million cars. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be $2 billion.

“Our Great Plains Hydrogen Hub achieves the objectives of the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Shot – large scale clean hydrogen production at $1/kg by 2030 – and it does so years ahead of time,” said Mike Hopkins, CEO of Bakken Energy. “The redevelopment gives us an unbeatable cost advantage which will enable the build out of infrastructure that will benefit additional hydrogen production, including hydrogen from renewables, on our way to becoming the largest and lowest cost producer of clean hydrogen in the country.”

“The energy transition requires unprecedented collaboration. Partnering with the MHA Nation will enable us to build out the hydrogen infrastructure in the Midwest cost effectively and help accelerate the energy transition. The North Dakota hydrogen hub is critical to achieving net-zero.” said Bill Newsom, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. “Together with our partners, we are creating a Change in Power.”

“The State of North Dakota looks forward to being the home of the Great Plains Hydrogen Hub, which will be a key contributor to achieving our goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 and a key player in the emerging hydrogen economy,” said North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. “This partnership between MHA Nation and Bakken Energy will add value to North Dakota’s abundant natural gas resources while also advancing our shared goal of reducing flaring. We support hydrogen development as part of our all-of-the-above energy approach and efforts to create jobs, diversify our economy and bolster U.S. energy security.”

About Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, is a federally recognized Indian tribe located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota. The Reservation surrounds the Missouri River and consists of approximately 1 million acres. The MHA Nation is engaged in the responsible development of the vast oil and gas resources on the Reservation, with Reservation production accounting for about 20 percent of production in the state of North Dakota. There are currently over 16,900 enrolled members with nearly 40 percent of those members residing on the reservation. The Nation employs close to 1500 individuals who assist in providing tribal services and administering various federal and non-federal programs. The mission of the Three Affiliated Tribes is to provide to the Tribe and people, maximum quality services, by being responsible, accountable, respectful, caring, and incorporating the traditional values of its elders and ancestors. For more information visit the MHA Nation website.

About Bakken Energy, LLC

Bakken Energy, LLC, is a clean hydrogen infrastructure development company that intends to be the largest and lowest cost producer of clean hydrogen in the country, starting with the creation of the Great Plains Hydrogen Hub. Bakken Energy was formed from the Family Office of Founder and Chairman Steven Lebow. Previously Lebow founded and co-led Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette’s (DLJ) Los Angeles office and created and led GRP Partners, a U.S. and European venture capital firm. From almost day one, he was the primary financier for companies including Costco Wholesale, PetSmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Envestnet, Bill Me Later (sold to PayPal) and ULTA Beauty. For more information, visit the Bakken Energy website and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc.

Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. (Mitsubishi Power) headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, employs more than 2,300 power generation, energy storage, and digital solutions experts and professionals. Our employees are focused on empowering customers to affordably and reliably combat climate change while also advancing human prosperity throughout North, Central, and South America. Mitsubishi Power’s power generation solutions include gas, steam, and aero-derivative turbines; power trains and power islands; geothermal systems; PV solar project development; environmental controls; and services. Energy storage solutions include green hydrogen, battery energy storage systems, and services. Mitsubishi Power also offers intelligent solutions that use artificial intelligence to enable autonomous operation of power plants. Mitsubishi Power is a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI). Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, MHI is one of the world’s leading heavy machinery manufacturers with engineering and manufacturing businesses spanning energy, infrastructure, transport, aerospace, and defense. For more information, visit the  Mitsubishi Power Americas website and follow us on LinkedIn.

Attachment

• Mitsubishi Power

Alison Ritter
Bakken Energy, LLC 
701-557-7545
aritter@odney.com