Joe Vernachio Named President of SOREL

 PORTLAND, Ore. - Thursday, 18. June 2026

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Columbia Sportswear Company (Nasdaq: COLM), a leading innovator in active outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment, today announced that Joe Vernachio will be the next President of SOREL. Founded in 1962, SOREL is a leader in functional and lifestyle footwear that can be worn anywhere from the tundra to the streets of New York City.

“We’re excited to welcome Joe Vernachio back to the Columbia Sportswear family,” said Tim Boyle, CEO and Chair of the Board. “Joe is a terrific leader who can build on the great work, talent and momentum in place at SOREL.”

Mr. Vernachio led the Mountain Hardwear brand for several years, until he left to become the COO and ultimately, the CEO of Allbirds. His background also includes time as Global Vice President for Product and Operations at The North Face, and key roles at Nike, Spyder, Roots, Calvin Klein and Patagonia.

“Joe is a consumer‑focused, collaborative leader with a deep passion for product and brand storytelling. His energy, expertise, and proven leadership will help fuel scalable growth and meaningful brand expansion for SOREL,” said Craig Zanon, EVP, Europe Direct, Asia Direct and Emerging Brands.

Mr. Vernachio will begin on June 22, 2026.

About Columbia Sportswear Company:

Columbia Sportswear Company has assembled a portfolio of brands for active lives, making it a leader in the global active lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment industry. Founded in 1938 in Portland, Oregon, the company's brands are today sold in approximately 90 countries. In addition to the Columbia® brand, Columbia Sportswear Company also owns the Mountain Hardwear®, SOREL®, and prAna® brands. To learn more, please visit the company's websites at www.columbia.com, www.mountainhardwear.com, www.SOREL.com, and www.prana.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the Company’s expectations, anticipations or beliefs about the growth of the Columbia brand and the Company. Forward-looking statements often use words such as "will," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "should," "may" and other words and terms of similar meaning or reference future dates. The Company's expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith and are believed to have a reasonable basis; however, each forward-looking statement involves a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in this document, those described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the heading "Risk Factors," and those that have been or may be described in other reports filed by the Company, including reports on Form 8-K. The Company does not undertake any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this document to conform them to actual results or to reflect changes in events, circumstances or its expectations. New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for the Company to predict or assess the effects of all such factors or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

 

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Mary Ellen Glynn

Sr. Director, Corporate Communications

Columbia Sportswear Company

mglynn@columbia.com

 

The Estée Lauder Companies and Jo Malone London Launch Experience That Turns Visual Taste into a Personalized Fragrance Wardrobe, exclusively on Pinterest

 (BUSINESS WIRE)--The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) and Jo Malone London today announced the launch of Scent Scanner, a first-of-its-kind experience available exclusively on Pinterest and rolling out in the US and France. The experience translates the visual preferences people have expressed across their Pinterest boards into personalized Jo Malone London fragrance recommendations.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260617962807/en/

Building on the success of Jo Malone London's AI Scent Advisor, introduced in 2025, Scent Scanner offers a new way for consumers to find their personalized scent, shifting the starting point from words to images. While the AI Scent Advisor invited consumers to describe the scent they were seeking, Scent Scanner reads visual inspiration – imagery, color palettes, textures, destinations, rituals and aesthetics – to suggest fragrances suited to each individual.

The custom Pinterest experience brings Jo Malone London’s expertise in fragrance discovery to life through a personalized digital journey. With their permission, Pinners can connect a Pinterest board from their profile and the Scent Scanner analyzes the visual cues and themes in their saved content to build a curated fragrance pairing – a personalized set of Jo Malone London scents.

On Pinterest, personal taste is already expressed visually through the images people save and curate. Scent Scanner transforms those visual expressions into fragrance recommendations, creating a new bridge between inspiration and purchase.

“For years, personalization in beauty meant asking people what they wanted. The bigger opportunity is to understand what they already love — and to meet them where their taste already lives,” said Aude Gandon, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, The Estée Lauder Companies. “Scent Scanner demonstrates how we can combine the power of creativity and commerce to make fragrance discovery more relevant and engaging. By partnering with Pinterest, Jo Malone London is bringing Beauty Reimagined to life, by creating a new model for emotionally driven commerce and meaningful consumer connection.”

“People come to Pinterest to picture the life they want, and they tell us who they are in images long before they have the words for it,” said Julie Towns, VP, Product Marketing & Operations, Pinterest. “Scent Scanner reads that visual language and turns it into fragrance discovery that feels less like searching and more like being known. It's a natural next step for a platform people use to dream, discover, and do.”

“A fragrance is one of the most personal choices an individual makes — it becomes part of how they move through the world and how they're remembered,” said Jo Dancey, Global Brand President, Jo Malone London and Lifestyle Fragrance, The Estée Lauder Companies. “With Scent Scanner, we can build someone a fragrance pairing drawn from what already inspires them, so the Jo Malone London scents they discover feel chosen for them — and unmistakably their own.”

The launch reflects the continued collaboration between The Estée Lauder Companies and Pinterest to build digital commerce experiences that connect consumers with fragrance in new ways. Through personalized visual discovery and innovative shopping capabilities, the partnership aims to engage high-intent fragrance shoppers and create more seamless pathways from inspiration to purchase.

The companies will further showcase their collaboration at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026, where leaders from Pinterest, The Estée Lauder Companies and Jo Malone London will discuss the evolving role of AI, personalization and visual discovery in consumer experiences.

About The Estée Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers, marketers, and sellers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products, and is a steward of luxury and prestige brands globally. The Company’s products are sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including: Estée Lauder, Aramis, Clinique, Lab Series, Origins, M·A·C, La Mer, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Aveda, Jo Malone London, Bumble and bumble, Darphin Paris, TOM FORD, Smashbox, AERIN Beauty, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, GLAMGLOW, KILIAN PARIS, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+, the DECIEM family of brands, including The Ordinary and NIOD, and BALMAIN Beauty.

About Jo Malone London

Since 1994, Jo Malone London has been synonymous with elegant and distinctive scents, carefully crafted with a modern sensibility. Created to be worn alone or layered together, the fragrances invite a personalised approach to scent and individual self-expression. Acquired by The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. in 1999, today Jo Malone London is loved globally for its joyfully British character, defined by elegance, charm and creativity.

ELC-C

 

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Lauren Pratapas

lpratapa@estee.com

Investor Relations:

Rainey Mancini

rmancini@estee.com

 

NIQ and Ogury Collaborate to Enhance Media Planning and Audience Strategy with GeoPurchase Insights

 NEW YORK & PARIS - Thursday, 18. June 2026 AETOSWire Print 

New initiative brings real-world retail purchase signals into Ogury’s Persona Intelligence Engine to deliver deeper, privacy preserving insights across North America and Europe

 

(BUSINESS WIRE)--NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, today announced a new collaboration with Ogury, the global AdTech company powered by Persona Intelligence. Through the collaboration, Ogury will integrate NIQ’s GeoPurchase data into its Persona Intelligence Engine, strengthening audience planning, media activation, and strategic insights for marketers.

NIQ delivers world-leading retail intelligence, capturing actual purchase data at the product level across key retailers around the world. Through this collaboration, NIQ is providing GeoPurchase insights at scale across France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the UK, as well as the United States and Canada, bringing a new layer of real-world retail purchase behavior into Ogury’s Persona Intelligence Engine.

Combined with Ogury’s audience-first data model—which brings together observed behaviours, declared intents, and deterministic signals—these insights help create rich, multi-dimensional personas informed by actual purchasing patterns, giving marketers a more complete understanding of the audiences most relevant to their brand and campaign objectives. The collaboration and the enhanced Ogury personas are built on aggregated and anonymized insights. Through these insights, marketers gain a deeper understanding of consumer demand, category dynamics, and competitive positioning at a local level, helping them identify competitive strengths, areas of underperformance, and opportunities for growth.

By incorporating NIQ’s retail sales data and proprietary geographic insights, Ogury can translate this intelligence into audiences that can be activated consistently across digital media campaigns. Unlike traditional uses of retail intelligence that focus primarily on planning, brands can use these insights to inform and execute acquisition and retention strategies based on real-world market dynamics.

“Marketers do not just need more data. They need intelligence that drives action,” said Joshua Pisano, General Manager of Global Media at NIQ. “Leveraging NIQ’s GeoPurchase insights through Ogury’s Persona Intelligence Engine transforms how audiences are developed and activated through Ogury’s platform, enabling brands to turn real purchase-based signals into smarter planning, more precise activation, and stronger business outcomes. Together, we are helping clients turn complexity into clarity and media investments into measurable growth.”

“By adding NIQ’s trusted retail purchase insights to our audience-first data model, we’re helping marketers bridge the gap between audience understanding and market reality,” said Christophe Bize, Chief Data and GTM Officer at Ogury. “Brands can identify audiences informed by real purchase behavior, gain a clearer view of category dynamics, and uncover opportunities for growth through smarter media planning and activation. What makes this collaboration unique is the ability to understand how a brand performs against competitors across local markets and translate those insights into actionable audiences.”

By combining NIQ’s retail intelligence with Ogury’s Persona Intelligence Engine, the collaboration gives marketers a new way to understand, plan, and activate audiences based on real-world purchase behavior, bridging the gap between market intelligence, media execution, and measurable outcomes.

About NIQ

NIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.

With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.

For more information, please visit www.niq.com.

About Ogury

Ogury is a global AdTech company powered by Persona Intelligence, its proprietary technology that enables brands and agencies to activate consistent persona-based strategies across channels and drive measurable brand outcomes. Founded in 2014, Ogury operates in 18 countries with over 500 employees worldwide.

© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

#NIQ-General

All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.

 

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SES Announces Results of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders

 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SES (the “Company”) held an Extraordinary General Meeting (“EGM”) of Shareholders today in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

Following the recommendations made by the Board of Directors of SES, the shareholders have voted in favor of all resolutions. In particular, shareholders approved the cancellation of shares repurchased under the Company’s share buyback program of 2 November 2023, as amended on 2 May 2024, resulting in a corresponding reduction of the Company’s share capital. Shareholders also approved amendments to the Company’s articles of association, including indemnification for Board members and executives, as well as updates relating to the conduct of shareholder meetings.

Detailed results on all matters voted on at the EGM will be available on the company’s webpage: https://www.ses.com/company/investors/shareholder-information/general-meeting-shareholders

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About SES

At SES, we believe that space has the power to make a difference. That’s why we design space solutions that help governments protect, businesses grow, and people stay connected—no matter where they are. With integrated multi-orbit satellites and our global terrestrial network, we deliver resilient, seamless connectivity and the highest quality video content to those shaping what’s next. Following our Intelsat acquisition, we now offer more than 100 years of combined global industry leadership—backed by a track record of bringing innovation “firsts” to market. As a trusted partner to customers and the global space ecosystem, SES is driving impact that goes far beyond coverage. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com

 

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Christian Kern

Investor Relations

Tel: +352 710 725 7787

ir@ses.com

Steven Lott

Communications

Tel. +352 710 725 500

SES.Press@ses.com

 

Ant Group 2025 Sustainability Report Highlights Record AI R&D Investment

 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Ant Group's 2025 Sustainability Report disclosed a record R&D investment of USD 5.17 billion (RMB 35.03 billion) in 2025—the fifth straight year of growth—alongside AI-powered green computing breakthroughs that contributed to cutting operational carbon emissions by 55.32% year-on-year. These milestones reflect Ant Group's commitment

“Does technological advancement necessarily lead to shared prosperity? The answer lies not in the technology itself, but in the people who use it,” wrote Eric Jing, Chairman of Ant Group, and Cyril Han, CEO of Ant Group in their joint address. “Making AI a driver for shared prosperity—this is our answer to the age of AI, and our shared commitment to the future."

Record AI Investment Drives Three Core Priorities

According to Ant Group’s 2023 and 2025 Sustainability Reports, the company has been increasing annual R&D spending since 2021. These investments cover major areas including foundational AI models, AI-powered payment & everyday services, and AI-driven health solutions.

AI Health App Bridging the Medical Resource Gap

As of February 2026, Ant Group's AI-native health app, AQ, has reached a major milestone — surpassing 100 million total users. This achievement builds on AQ’s rapidly expanding health ecosystem. By late 2025, the app had connected users with services of over 5,000 medical institutions across China, successfully driving the AI integration of 301 partner facilities.

To enhance accessible care, AQ collaborated with more than 2,000 Chinese physicians to launch “AI Doctor Agents.” These AI-powered virtual doctors are trained on the specific clinical expertise of individual specialists. The doctor agents offer free, reliable guidance for daily health questions, having served over 6.9 million users in 2025.

Next Generation AI Payment and Everyday Services

On June 16, 2026, Alipay launched a major AI agent upgrade ("Ah Bao" in Mandarin), enabling its one billion users to find services more easily and execute daily tasks with the help of its AI agent interface.

In May 2026, Alipay unveiled a full-stack AI payment infrastructure featuring consumer products AI Pay and AI Wallet, alongside business solutions including AI payment processing and Token Pay. At its foundation lies China's first Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol, developed with partners, supported by an intelligent security system that safeguards every AI-driven transaction. Together, these technologies form the trust and transaction infrastructure essential for scaling the agentic economy.

By May 2026, Alipay AI Pay surpassed 300 million transactions, establishing itself as the first commercially scaled AI-native payment infrastructure globally.

As agentic commerce gains momentum in China, Alipay’s AI payment services have expanded across diverse use cases. These include AI agents integrated into apps and mini programs for retailers like Luckin Coffee; AI-powered smart glasses from Rokid; consumer applications such as Alibaba’s Qwen; smart cockpit systems; OpenClaw-type AI agents, and AI development platforms including Coze and Qoder; AI model companies like MiniMax and Stepfun; and One Person Companies (OPCs).

Advancements in Foundation Model Research

In 2025, Ant Group open-sourced the Ling series foundational models, delivering high-performance models at lower computing costs. Its latest evolution features the release of Ling-2.6-1T, a trillion-parameter language model designed for complex, real-world tasks such as coding and multi-step workflows.

Moreover, Robbyant, Ant Group’s embodied AI company, launched the “Evolution of Embodied AI Week” initiative in January 2026 and open-sourced a full stack of AI models for the physical world. Among them is LingBot-World, a world model that achieves industry-leading performance in video quality, dynamic fidelity, long-term consistency, and interactivity.

Green Computing Breakthrough Delivers Measurable Impact

Following the principle of “achieving the same business outcomes with less computing power”, Ant Group's self-developed Theta AI infrastructure enables substantial efficiency gains through optimized model distribution and intelligent scheduling:

Increased GPU utilization during inference 2.3 times

Cut data center carbon emissions by 139,545 tCO2e

Clean Energy Transition Accelerates

In 2025, Ant Group achieved operational carbon neutrality for the fifth consecutive year, with Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions cut by 55.32% compared with the baseline year of 2020. Through refined clean energy trading and allocation strategies, Ant Group increased clean energy use in its data centers to 65% in 2025.

"We believe that the true value of technology lies not in fleeting trends, but in genuine needs, steadfast commitment, and human well-being. How can technology reach everyone who truly needs it? With unwavering resilience, we will continue to use technology to bring small and beautiful changes to the world,” wrote Sabrina Peng, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant Group.

Ant Group's 2025 Sustainability Report is available in Chinese here, an English version will be available in the coming months.

About Ant Group

Ant Group is a global digital technology provider and the operator of Alipay, a leading internet services platform in China, connecting over one billion users to more than 10,000 types of consumer services from partners. Through innovative products and solutions powered by AI, blockchain and other technologies, Ant Group supports partners across industries to thrive through digital transformation in an ecosystem for inclusive and sustainable development. For more information, visit www.antgroup.com

 

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Media Contact:

Chloe Wang

Ant Group

Email: chloe.wzx@antgroup.com

Andersen Global Strengthens Presence in India with JMP Advisors

SAN FRANCISCO - Thursday, 18. June 2026

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Andersen Global enters into a Collaboration Agreement with JMP Advisors in India, adding tax capabilities to its existing legal capabilities in the country.

Providing advice across tax, regulatory and transaction matters, JMP Advisors serves domestic and multinational clients operating in complex and evolving business environments. The firm provides services spanning international and Indian domestic tax, transfer pricing, cross-border structuring, foreign investment advisory, transaction support, succession planning and regulatory matters. Its clients include multinational corporations, growing enterprises, private equity and venture capital-backed businesses, and high-net-worth individuals and families.

“Our approach has always centered on delivering clear, actionable guidance that helps clients navigate complex situations and continue their business with a clear sense of direction,” said Jairaj Purandare, founder and chairman of JMP Advisors Private Limited. “Collaborating with Andersen Global allows us to extend that approach globally while continuing to provide thoughtful, well-structured advice to clients operating across jurisdictions.”

“JMP Advisors brings a strong understanding of tax and regulatory frameworks and business dynamics in India,” said Mark L. Vorsatz, global chairman and CEO of Andersen. “Their experience in advising organizations on complex tax and transaction matters strengthens our ability to support clients navigating business transformation in key markets.”

Andersen Global is an international association of legally separate, independent member firms comprised of tax, legal, and valuation professionals around the world. Established in 2013 by U.S. member firm Andersen Tax LLC, Andersen Global now has more than 50,000 professionals worldwide and a presence in over 1,000 locations through its member firms and collaborating firms.

 

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Megan Tsuei

Andersen Global

415-764-2700

NIQ Introduces NIQ Cadence: A Compound AI Operating System for Marketing Effectiveness

 

CHICAGO - 

One system unifies NIQ’s global data, models, and knowledge so marketers move from insight to impact faster, with deeper intelligence, at scale.

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today introduced NIQ Cadence, a compound AI operating system built to change how organizations measure marketing performance, optimize budgets, and act on what the data tells them. NIQ Cadence brings data and intelligence into one continuous environment, moving marketers off fragmented reports and onto a single system that empowers decision making.

Marketing has never been more complex. Channels keep multiplying, data sits in silos, and the pressure to prove ROI keeps climbing. As a result, most teams still stitch insight and action together by hand, losing time and confidence at every handoff. NIQ Cadence closes that gap with one system where measurement and decision-making finally run together.

“Marketing leaders don’t need more reports. They need a better rhythm,” said Jason Tate, General Manager of Marketing Effectiveness at NIQ. “NIQ Cadence moves organizations beyond disconnected data, siloed tools, and disparate insights to a system that translates signals into clear recommendations and measurable impact.”

A new operating system for marketing effectiveness

NIQ Cadence is built for marketing leaders accountable for growth, analytics teams managing complex data ecosystems, and organizations that want to accelerate decisions without adding operational complexity. Compound AI-native from inception, NIQ Cadence goes a step beyond single-purpose agents.

A network of 19 specialized agents, coordinated by NIQ Optiq, works as a team to surface personalized, decision-ready recommendations. The system brings together insights derived from NIQ’s proprietary global data alongside inputs from partner platforms, customer environments, and third-party sources to deliver The Full View™ in one place, then translates those signals into guidance marketers can act on with confidence.

Through ongoing learning, NIQ Cadence deepens client-specific intelligence over time, unlocking improved performance at both the brand level and across the enterprise.

What sets NIQ Cadence apart

Faster insights: Streaming market signals flow straight through to measurement and optimization, so marketers can make decisions in the moment, not months later.

Deeper intelligence: Built on NIQ’s independent, proprietary global data, grounded in sources marketers can trust.

Built for scale: Global and market-agnostic, engineered to run from a single brand to the full enterprise.

Inside NIQ Cadence

NIQ Cadence empowers users through the following sub-systems:

MyCadence: Personalized command center for guiding decision workflows and team collaboration.

CadenceBI: Always-on business intelligence that carries streaming market signals to outcome measurement and optimization.

CadenceIO: Core data infrastructure that integrates, organizes, and models data across the marketing stack.

CadenceAI: Agent network that automates analysis and surfaces next-best moves for decision-making.

CadenceKM: Shared knowledge system that compounds client-specific intelligence over time.

CadenceIQ: Extensible, purpose-built intelligence suites spanning portfolio, content, commerce, and beyond.

Driving faster, more confident decisions

NIQ Cadence marks a step-change in marketing effectiveness: helping marketers make clearer decisions with faster insights and leaner workflows. The result is a new operating rhythm that moves marketers from insight to impact with greater precision.

Availability

NIQ Cadence is a global, market-agnostic system, currently in beta with NIQ’s marketing mix clients through the remainder of 2026. A broader general market release will follow.

About NIQ

NIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.

With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.

For more information, please visit www.niq.com.

© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

#NIQ-General

 

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