15 Companies at ROTH Capital Conference to Provide Insights into Rise of New Media
ROTH Media/Tech Investor Event 2009
NEW YORK – A panel featuring the president of Media Link and two new media chief executives with decades of experience in traditional advertising will debate the evolution of traditional media and the rise of social networks and other new media during a one-day conference set for Sept. 16 in New York City.
The invitation-only conference, produced by the investment banking firm of ROTH Capital Partners, LLC, (“ROTH”) will be held at the Westin at New York Times Square. Registration and breakfast begin at 8 a.m. The first session is at 9 a.m., featuring IMAX, the global large-format theater company, to be followed at 9:30 a.m. by the panel discussion on “Winners and Losers in the Evolution of Advertising.”
The panelists are: Wenda Harris Millard, president of Media Link LLC, a strategic advisory and business development firm specializing in media, marketing, advertising and entertainment and formerly of Martha Stewart, Yahoo and Doubleclick; Matt Freeman, chief executive of Betawave Corp., which has the largest online kids audience and the second largest audience for women and moms, and previous founder of Omnicom’s Tribal digital media agency;
and Bant Breen, president of worldwide digital communications for Initiative Media, a digital media company and previously with the large international advertising firms, Leo Burnett and Interpublic.
“There are those who will defend “old” media – broadcast and print – and others who believe it will all be replaced by social networks and mobile ads,” said Richard Ingrassia, senior research analyst with ROTH and co-moderator of the panel discussion. “Beyond debate, we will challenge our panelists to provide their best investment ideas in the current environment. It should be a lively and actionable discussion.”
Ingrassia covers media, advertising, and the internet for ROTH and in prior positions has advised senior entertainment industry management on market development, organization and operations. He has appeared on CNBC and in Investor’s Business Daily and Forbes.
He will be joined by Nathan Schneiderman, a senior research analyst at Roth Capital who focuses on enterprise software. Schneiderman has spent more than a decade in the information technology field as a project manager and software developer designing artificial intelligence systems for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Company presentations will follow in half-hour segments after the panel discussion. Rather than traditional PowerPoint presentations and speeches, companies will discuss their prospects in a fireside chat format, with initial questions from the ROTH analysts, followed by questions and answers from the audience of mutual fund and hedge fund managers.
“We thought an interactive approach would give investors a great opportunity to probe into the essence of every company – the people, culture, vision and technologies that create success,” said Ingrassia. “It will be more personal and engaging than a typical conference or analyst call.”
Companies presenting as of the date of this release and subject to change from the Advertising, Media, Internet and Software sectors include: ***Blockbuster Inc. (BBI), KIT digital, Inc. (KITD), IMAX Corporation (IMAX), Majesco Entertainment Co. (COOL), Meredith Corporation (MDP), United Online, Inc. (UNTD), ValueVision Media (VVTV), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Enterprise Software companies are: inContact, Inc. (SAAS), Informatica Corporation (INFA), Pegasystems, Inc (PEGA), Saba Software (SABA), SuccessFactors (SFSF) and Tyler Technologies (TYL).
***Company is doing 1 x 1 meetings only/no formal presentation
ROTH produces a series of investor conferences on different industry segments, such as healthcare, industrials, media, entertainment, gaming, technology and China. It has a three-day China Conference scheduled Oct. 12 to 14 in Miami, with more than 50 U.S listed Chinese companies presenting. ROTH hosts its annual spring growth stock conference each year in Laguna Niguel. Next year’s event will take place on March 14-16, 2010 and will feature over 300 presenting companies.
About ROTH:
ROTH is a full service investment banking firm dedicated to the small-cap public market. Since its inception in 1984, ROTH has been an innovator in this market. In the 1990’s, it was a leading underwriter for IPOs of small-cap companies. As this market changed, ROTH helped develop the PIPE (private investment in public equity) financing structure. ROTH was one of the first U.S. investment banks to focus on financing small-cap Chinese companies and established a representative office in Shanghai in 2007. More recently, ROTH has underwritten several offerings and registered direct placements of equity securities for small-cap companies with effective shelf registration statements, completing 14 transactions for over $475 million since February 2009. For more information, please visit www.roth.com.
