ST. LOUIS, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, industrial, automation and connectivity products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, today announced that it has been recognized by Energage with four Top Workplaces Culture Excellence awards, three Featured awards and the Distribution Industry award. The 2026 honors include:

Culture Excellence Awards:

- Work-Life Flexibility: These organizations have built a culture that enables employees to meet the demands of their personal lives while maintaining a high performance.

- Purpose & Values: These organizations have successfully communicated the company mission and integrated those aspirations into the culture.

- Employee Well-Being: Employees at these companies believe their organization put health and wellness at the center of their workplace culture.

- Professional Development: These companies place a special focus on developing their employees' careers and enabling their people to grow professionally.

Featured Awards:

- Women-Led: Celebrates outstanding organizations whose most senior leader is a woman. These leaders have fostered and built stand-out workplace cultures that perform.

- Employee Appreciation: Recognizes companies that have created a standout experience where employees feel recognized and valued for their achievements.

- Frontline Workers: Honors companies that prioritize the needs, contributions, and workplace experience of their frontline staff.

Industry Award:

- Distribution Industry: Graybar was one of just three distributors with more than 2,500 employees recognized with this award.

"Employee ownership is at the heart of Graybar's culture," said Kathleen M. Mazzarella, Graybar's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "It gives our employees a personal connection to our company and a shared stake in our success. This recognition reflects the pride and commitment they bring to Graybar every day."

This marks the sixth consecutive year Graybar has received Top Workplaces Culture Excellence awards and the fifth consecutive year it has earned the Distribution Industry award. Earlier this year, Energage and USA TODAY named Graybar a 2026 Top Workplaces USA award winner for the sixth consecutive year.

Top Workplaces Culture Excellence awards recognize organizations that excel in specific areas of workplace culture. Winners are determined by confidential employee feedback gathered through the Energage Workplace Survey, which measures 15 culture drivers that research has shown to be predictive of organizational performance. Results are benchmarked against the Energage national database of employer responses.

"Earning a Top Workplaces award is a badge of honor for companies, especially because it comes authentically from their employees," said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. "That's something to be proud of. In today's market, leaders must ensure they're allowing employees to have a voice and be heard. That's paramount. Top Workplaces do this, and it pays dividends."

About Energage

Making the world a better place to work together.™

Energage is a purpose-driven company that helps organizations turn employee feedback into useful business intelligence and credible employer recognition through Top Workplaces. Built on 20 years of culture research and the results from 30 million employees surveyed across more than 80,000 organizations, Energage delivers the most accurate competitive benchmark available. With access to a unique combination of patented analytic tools and expert guidance, Energage customers lead the competition with an engaged workforce and an opportunity to gain recognition for their people-first approach to culture. For more information or to nominate your organization, visit energage.com or topworkplaces.com.

About Graybar

Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, industrial, automation and connectivity products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of 355 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network, automate and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR.

Media Contact:

Tim Sommer

(314) 578-7672

[email protected]

SOURCE Graybar

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- Funding will expand access to workforce training, define skills needed for future jobs and connect more people to modern manufacturing careers

- Sanford Area Growth Alliance and Central Carolina Community College launch statewide workforce initiative in Sanford

IRVING, Texas, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) expanded its workforce commitment to North Carolina, the most recent investment for its five-year, $100 million Building the Future Workforce Initiative. With an allocation of up to $10 million, the funding aims to prepare current and future workers for jobs in modern manufacturing and industry technician roles.

"Investing in people is essential to building the workforce advanced manufacturing will need for the future," said Christy Pambianchi, Caterpillar's chief human resources officer. "North Carolina's growth creates an opportunity to help more people build the skills they need for careers in manufacturing and strengthen the workforce that will support the industry for years to come."

Why North Carolina?

As a critical manufacturing hub, North Carolina is a natural fit for this investment. Caterpillar employs more than 3,600 people in North Carolina, has a strong dealer network and works with 325 suppliers across the state.

"North Carolina is home to the largest manufacturing workforce in the Southeast, and Caterpillar recognizes what our state brings to the table," said North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein. "I thank Caterpillar for its long-standing partnership and look forward to more economic opportunity coming to Sanford."

Caterpillar recently announced plans to invest approximately $1 billion in North Carolina to expand manufacturing capacity for products that support its growing Cat Compact™ business, which provides compact equipment solutions for small contractors and growing businesses. The investment includes plans for a new modern manufacturing facility in Sanford, designed to increase production of compact track loaders and telehandlers to meet customer demand. The project supports the company's Cat Compact approach, focused on making its equipment and solutions easier for customers to access.

Also in North Carolina, Caterpillar's Clayton facility manufactures small wheel loaders and supports the distribution of backhoe loaders. Together, these operations help Caterpillar serve customers while advancing manufacturing excellence, innovation, workforce development and economic growth across the state.

Caterpillar is collaborating with leading North Carolina organizations, like Central Carolina Community College and the Sanford Area Growth Alliance, to advance the Building the Future Workforce Initiative. The program aims to expand hands-on manufacturing pathways for students, mobilize employer engagement across the region and provide individuals with access to affordable, relevant training that leads to career advancement.

This marks the sixth allocation for this initiative, which includes launches in Indiana, Texas, Illinois and Arkansas, as well as an innovation challenge. For more information on how these funds are upskilling talent for modern manufacturing and industry technician roles, and to stay up to date with future announcements, visit the Caterpillar Building the Workforce Initiative.

About Caterpillar

For more than a century, Caterpillar has built a better, more sustainable world. With 2025 sales and revenues of $67.6 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is shaping the future as the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Backed by one of the largest independent global dealer networks and financing services through Cat Financial, the company's primary business segments: Power & Energy, Construction Industries and Resource Industries are solving customers' toughest challenges through commercial excellence and advanced technology, driven by a highly skilled, dedicated global team. Learn more at www.caterpillar.com.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.

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Agency delivers major deregulatory action under President Trump's agenda, eliminating costly requirements without weakening consumer safety protections

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today announced a major deregulatory action eliminating unnecessary federal requirements for fuel additives, saving American businesses up to an estimated $10.7 billion over 30 years while preserving existing consumer safety protections.

The action clarifies that fuel additives used to clean engines, improve performance, extend engine life, prevent weather-related effects, or stabilize fuel are not "flammable liquid fuels" under the Portable Fuel Container Safety Act. As a result, manufacturers will not be required to equip containers for these products with costly flame mitigation devices intended for gasoline cans and other portable fuel containers.

The action eliminates an estimated $545.7 million in annual regulatory costs and protects small businesses from disproportionate regulatory burdens. CPSC's economic analysis found that smaller manufacturers, many of which depend heavily on fuel additive sales, would have faced substantial packaging costs if they had to comply with requirements never intended for their products. The action also protects American consumers from unnecessary price increases and preserves access to widely used engine maintenance products.

"This is what meaningful deregulation looks like: eliminating billions of dollars in unnecessary costs while keeping consumer safety protections firmly in place," said Acting Chairman Peter A. Feldman. "Congress imposed these requirements on fuel containers, not products designed to clean and maintain engines. Washington should not force American businesses to spend billions complying with regulations that were never intended to apply to their products in the first place."

"President Trump has directed federal agencies to eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens, and CPSC is delivering. The Supreme Court made clear in Loper Bright that agencies must follow the best reading of the law, not interpretations that expand their regulatory authority. A federal court has already recognized that these additives are not fuel. Today, we're putting that principle into practice, restoring regulatory clarity, and making clear that CPSC will not impose requirements beyond those authorized by Congress."

The action advances President Trump's Executive Order 14192, "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation," and reinforces CPSC's commitment to ensuring that federal regulations are grounded in statutory authority, impose no unnecessary costs, and provide clear, predictable requirements for American businesses.

Existing flame mitigation requirements for gasoline cans and other covered portable fuel containers remain unchanged. CPSC has identified no reported flame-jetting incidents involving the fuel additives in containers covered by this action.

About CPSC

CPSC is the federal agency charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury associated with thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. Since the agency was established more than 50 years ago, CPSC has worked to ensure the safety of consumer products, contributing to a decline in related injuries.

Federal law prohibits any person from selling products subject to a Commission-ordered recall or to a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with CPSC.

Media Contact: Enrico Dinges, [email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

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Global Financial Platform Completes the Money Movement Loop in Q3 with MassPay Collect, Cash App Payouts, and Expanded US Rails

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- MassPay, a global financial platform that connects businesses to local rails, stablecoins, mobile wallets, and real-time payout methods in 180 countries through a single integration, today announced record third-quarter results. Payout volume grew 510% over Q3 2025, and gross revenue grew 112% year-over-year - the third consecutive record quarter for the company.

The Numbers Behind the Momentum

Q1 delivered 317% volume growth. Q2 delivered 408%. Q3 delivered 510%. Each quarter has built on the last, and revenue growth has kept climbing alongside volume, from 98% in Q2 to 112% in Q3. That is the clearest signal of all: as clients send more money through more corridors and more rails, the model gets stronger, not thinner.

"Three record quarters isn't a streak - it's a pattern," said Ran Grushkowsky, CEO of MassPay. "Our clients aren't testing us anymore. They're consolidating on us. When a business trusts you with more of its money movement every quarter, the growth takes care of itself."

From Payouts to the Full Money Movement Loop

Businesses that pay people globally face a familiar problem: one provider to collect funds, another to pay out domestically, another for cross-border, and a patchwork of contracts, dashboards, and reconciliation in between. In Q3, MassPay closed that gap.

- MassPay Collect launched in the US, giving businesses a way to bring funds in on the same platform they use to pay out. Europe, Canada, and the UK are next on the roadmap.

- Cash App payouts went live in production, giving payees one of the fastest and most widely used ways to get paid in the US.

- Bottomline partnership embeds Paymode virtual card and Premium ACH into MassPay, giving clients more ways to pay vendors and partners through a single integration.

"Every new capability answers the same question our clients ask: can MassPay handle this too?" added Grushkowsky. "In Q3, the answer to more of those questions became yes. Money in, money out, domestic, cross-border - one platform, one contract."

Built for Every Business That Moves Money

MassPay's growth is coming from every industry where paying people and partners quickly and reliably is core to the business:

- Enterprises paying suppliers, vendors, and partners worldwide

- Marketplaces paying sellers and service providers across borders

- Direct selling organizations paying distributors in dozens of markets

- Gaming platforms paying players, creators, and partners

- Creator platforms paying creators and performers in the way they choose

- Workforce and payroll platforms paying contractors and employees, domestically and globally

What these businesses share is simple: the people and partners they pay keep the business running. When a payout is late or fails, trust breaks. MassPay's job is to make sure it doesn't.

Built on What Q2 Started

The stablecoin rails MassPay brought to production in Q2 through its partnerships with Circle and Coinbase continue to scale alongside traditional rails. For clients, the logic hasn't changed: every payout is routed to the rail that's fastest, most cost-effective, and most reliable for that payee, whether that's a bank account in Mexico, a mobile wallet in the Philippines, or Cash App in the US.

Three Quarters Into the Growth Year

MassPay opened 2026 declaring it would be "all about growth." With one quarter to go, the company has posted three consecutive record quarters and expanded from payouts into the full money movement loop.

"Behind every number is a person who got paid on time, in the way they chose," said Grushkowsky. "That's the promise we're scaling."

About MassPay

We care about your people getting paid, everywhere. MassPay is a global financial platform that lets businesses move money instantly, compliantly, and at scale. With a single, easy-to-integrate API, MassPay connects businesses to local rails, stablecoins, mobile wallets, and real-time payout methods across 180 countries, including bank transfers, digital wallets, debit cards, cash pickup, and crypto. With embedded compliance and KYC, no contract lock-in, and no fees on failed transactions, MassPay serves marketplaces, direct selling organizations, creator platforms, and any business that needs reliable, scalable global payouts. Learn more at masspay.io.

Media Contact:

Kris Conesa

C-Suite Media Strategies

Kristopher Conesa

[email protected]

305-975-5934

SOURCE MassPay

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Players can unleash their inner idol with exclusive in-game fashion and music from the award-winning film

TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Spin Master's digital studio Toca Boca® is bringing Netflix's most popular film, KPop Demon Hunters, into the Toca Boca World app, giving its close to 60 million players access to music and fashion inspired by HUNTR/X, the Saja Boys and other iconic characters from the movie.

Inspired by the film's distinctive fashion and larger-than-life performances, the new game content brings together two dimensions of the world of Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters: everyday style and the energy of the K-pop stage. Players can mix and match both to create characters and personalize their storytelling.

Music will be a key feature of the experience, with a new music player including four chart-topping songs from the film, "How It's Done," "Golden," "Soda Pop" and "Your Idol." For a limited time, players can use these songs as soundtracks for their own stories within Toca Boca World.

"Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters is a global cultural phenomenon, bringing together music, fashion and beloved characters in a way that has clearly resonated with our players," said Marc De Vellis, Spin Master's President, Digital Games. "We were already seeing the Toca Boca community draw inspiration from the film in their stories within Toca Boca World, so this collaboration felt incredibly natural. It gives our players access to authentic and exclusive KPop Demon Hunters content, with even more ways to create, play, tell stories and express themselves in a world they love."

Together, the new fashion, music and characters give players more ways to put their own spin on Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters universe, whether they're creating an everyday look, stepping onto the stage or telling a story. The collaboration builds on Toca Boca World's ongoing exploration of music and culture, following collaborations with adidas, Conan Gray, KATSEYE and Wicked: For Good as well as in-game music from popular recording artists Olivia Rodrigo, SIENNA SPIRO and TWICE.

The Toca Boca World and Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters collaboration launches October 27.

Expanding the Toca Boca with KPop Demon Hunters collaboration, Netflix's games library is also serving up a delightfully messy new addition for gamers on Netflix Playground. Toca Boca Jr Kitchen™ has teamed up with Netflix to introduce a stylized KPop Demon Hunters update. While keeping the core mechanics intact, the collaboration transforms the gameplay into a vibrant, mukbang-themed culinary experience. The game is now officially available to download on iOS and Android devices, included entirely free with a Netflix subscription.

About Toca Boca

Toca Boca was founded in 2011 with a simple mission – to create playful, safe spaces where kids can have fun and feel free to be themselves. Solo or social, kid, tween or teen. Toca Boca games have now been downloaded over one billion times worldwide. The studio's award-winning app, Toca Boca World, is its biggest game to date. It's an ever-evolving world where kids are in total control. Toca Boca is based in Stockholm, and owned by Spin Master Corp., a leading global children's entertainment company. For more information, visit tocaboca.com.

About Spin Master

Spin Master Corp. (TSX:TOY) is a leading global children's entertainment company, creating exceptional play experiences across its three creative centres: Toys, Entertainment and Digital Games. With worldwide toy distribution, Spin Master is best known for award-winning brands including PAW Patrol®, Melissa & Doug®, Bakugan® and Rubik's® Cube, and is the global toy licensee for other iconic properties. Through its in-house entertainment studio, the company creates and produces captivating multiplatform content including powerhouse preschool franchise PAW Patrol, along with other original shows, short-form series and feature films. With an established presence in digital games anchored by Toca Boca® and Piknik™, Spin Master engages close to 60 million active users monthly in open-ended, creative and safe play. With 29 offices spanning nearly 20 countries, Spin Master employs approximately 2,500 team members globally.

ABOUT KPOP DEMON HUNTERS:

KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, became a global phenomenon shortly following its release on June 20, 2025. The film is Netflix's most popular film of all time, surpassing over 670 million views with 63 consecutive weeks on Netflix's Global Top 10.

It swept every award category: winning Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, Critics' Choice Awards, Golden Globes, as well as ten Annie Awards. Its breakout song "Golden" became the first K-pop track to win both an Oscar and a Grammy.

The soundtrack continues to make history as the first to place four songs simultaneously in the Billboard Hot 100 top ten, accumulating over 15 billion global streams. "Golden" held No. 1 on the Hot 100 for eight weeks — the longest such run by a female group this century — and was certified 5x Platinum.

SOURCE Toca Boca

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The Rakuten American Express® Card gets an exclusive design featuring two iconic anime characters, with the same Cash Back rewards and perks cardholders already enjoy.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten, the leading Cash Back shopping platform, today announced the Rakuten American Express® Card Limited Edition NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Design. Created in partnership with VIZ Media, the design features Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha — two iconic characters from one of Japan's most influential pop-culture franchises of the 21st century. As a company founded in Japan, Rakuten is celebrating a shared heritage alongside characters recognized by fans around the world.

The story of Naruto and Sasuke — a famous rivalry that grows into loyalty and, eventually, brotherhood — is one of the most enduring arcs in the series, tracing a complex history between the two characters.

"Rakuten is all about making everyday life more rewarding for our members, and this partnership with NARUTO SHIPPUDEN is yet another way we're bringing that to life," said Wendy Bergh, Chief Marketing Officer of Rakuten Rewards. "Naruto has connected deeply with fans for decades, and we're thrilled to celebrate their fandom with a limited edition design that turns everyday purchases into something even more rewarding."

The Rakuten American Express® Card has no annual fee1 and earns cardholders an extra 4% Cash Back on eligible Rakuten purchases2 — this is on top of what they already earn shopping on Rakuten's platform of more than 3,500 stores in-person or online. Cardholders also get 10% Cash Back on Rakuten Dining, 2% on groceries and restaurants and 1% on all other eligible purchases3. Plus, new cardholders receive a $100 welcome bonus after spending $1,000 on eligible purchases within the first 90 days on their Rakuten American Express® Card4. See the Rewards Program Terms and Conditions for full details and exclusions.

Cardholders also have access to American Express Network benefits, including Amex Offers for shopping, dining and travel, Amex Experiences™ spanning music, theater, sports events and more, along with retail protections.

The limited edition design option is available while supplies last to the first 10,000 new cardholders who accept their offer for the Rakuten American Express® Card5. To sign up for Rakuten and apply for the credit card, click here. The NARUTO SHIPPUDEN design is available to new cardholders only.

About Rakuten:

Rakuten Rewards is the most rewarding way to shop, giving millions of members Cash Back when they buy from their favorite brands. As a leading shopping platform, Rakuten partners with thousands of top brands across apparel, beauty and wellness, grocery, travel, on-demand services, subscriptions, and dining, helping members save on everyday purchases. Since 1999, Rakuten members have earned more than $4.6 billion in Cash Back, making it the largest Cash Back platform of its kind. Learn more at Rakuten.com.

Rakuten's shopping rewards platform is free and easy to use. With Rakuten, almost every purchase comes with Cash Back, including clothing, travel, dining and groceries. Members earn across thousands of partner brands online through the browser extension, Rakuten.com, or the app, and in-store at participating locations. Rakuten also gives members the power to choose how they get paid, with options including quarterly payouts via PayPal or check, American Express Membership Rewards® points6 or Bilt Points, and an instant gift card from over 50 brands.

Rakuten® is a registered trademark of Rakuten Group, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2026 Ebates Performance Marketing, Inc.

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About NARUTO

Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the best ninja in the land. He's done well so far, but with the looming danger posed by the mysterious Akatsuki organization, Naruto knows he must train harder than ever and leaves his village for intense exercises that will push him to his limits. Two and a half years later, Naruto returns to find that everyone's been promoted up the ninja ranks—except him. Sakura's a medic ninja, Gaara's advanced to Kazekage, and Kakashi, well, he's the same. But pride isn't becoming of a ninja, especially when Naruto realizes that Sasuke never returned from his search for Orochimaru. Plus, the mysterious Akatsuki organization is still an everpresent danger. As Naruto finds out more about the Akatsuki's goals, he realizes that nothing in his universe is as it seems. Naruto is finding that he's older, but will he prove wiser or stronger?

About VIZ Media

Wherever manga and anime fans are, we are! VIZ Media is No. 1 in Japanese pop culture, introducing fans to what's now, new, and next. Home to the world's most influential and groundbreaking storytellers and artists, who today drive multiple industries from publishing and animation to film and gaming. If it's big in Japan, you can find it at VIZ.

VIZ Media is proudly certified as a Most Loved Workplace® in America and Inc Magazine's Best Workplace. For more information on VIZ Media visit: https://www.viz.com/

About Imprint

Imprint is the payments, loyalty, and intelligence platform brands like Shell, Kroger, and Booking.com use to make every transaction more valuable. Through co-branded financial products, Imprint helps brands learn from customer interactions and deliver personalized recognition and rewards. With more than two million members nationwide, we're on a mission to turn every customer into a regular. Founded in 2020, Imprint is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit www.imprint.co.

About American Express

American Express (NYSE: AXP) is a global payments and premium lifestyle brand powered by technology. Our colleagues around the world back our customers with differentiated products, services, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

Founded in 1850 and headquartered in New York, American Express' brand is built on trust, security, service, and a rich history of delivering innovation and Membership value for our customers. We seek to provide the world's best customer experience every day to a broad range of consumers, small and medium-sized businesses, and large corporations, and we build and manage relationships with millions of merchants across our global network.

For more information about American Express, visit americanexpress.com, americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/, and ir.americanexpress.com.

The Rakuten American Express® Card is issued by First Electronic Bank, pursuant to a license from American Express. American Express and the American Express logos are trademarks of American Express Company and its affiliates. The Rakuten American Express® Card is powered by Imprint Payments, Inc.

1 Subject to eligibility. See Credit Program Cardholder Agreement.

2 Earn an additional 4% Cash Back on eligible Rakuten purchases (online & in-store), up to $10,000 in a calendar year, 1% Cash Back on eligible Rakuten purchases after the $10,000 cap, on your Rakuten American Express® Card. Eligibility may be based on Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) assigned by the merchant's payment processor. Purchases made at merchants that do not process transactions under an eligible MCC may not qualify. Eligible MCCs are determined and managed by Imprint and Rakuten and are subject to change at any time without notice. See the Rewards Program Terms and Conditions for full details and exclusions.

3 You will earn rewards on eligible purchases only. See Terms & Conditions for details.

4 To qualify for the $100 bonus, you must make eligible purchases totaling $1000 or more using your Rakuten American Express® Card within 90 days of account approval. The bonus will be awarded as Cash Back after the 90 day qualification period has ended, and may take up to an additional 15 days to post to your Rakuten account. Restrictions and exclusions apply. See the Rewards Program Terms and Conditions for details. This offer is not transferable. Imprint reserves the right to modify or revoke this offer at any time. Subject to approval and eligibility.

5 Limited time offer valid for the first 10,000 new cardholders who accept their offer beginning October 15, 2026. While supplies last.

6 Requires a Membership Rewards-enrolled American Express® Card (Issued by American Express).

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Announcing Mindbeam's Collaboration with NVIDIA: Bringing Greater Speed and Efficiency to Open Source AI

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mindbeam, the company focused on next-generation AI infrastructure, today announces a collaboration with NVIDIA, spanning two critical layers of the open source AI stack: a post-trained frontier model that generates high-performance CUDA kernels and an inference engine that runs NVIDIA's latest open models with exceptional speed and efficiency.

Litespark Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

As demand grows for optimized low-level systems and custom kernels, frontier open-source models are becoming increasingly capable of writing CUDA. But a key engineering question remains: Can a model take a PyTorch module and generate a raw CUDA kernel that computes the same forward pass within tight numerical tolerances while remaining fully architecture-agnostic?

To answer this question, Mindbeam post-trained NVIDIA's frontier model Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (120B-A12B). The result is Litespark Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, a powerful open-weights model that excels at CUDA code generation across the different levels of KernelBench.

In the Level 1 evaluation, which tests individual operations, the post-trained model passes 83.9% of problems, up from 72.7% before adaptation. That's an improvement of 11.2 percentage points through fine-tuning. Results are even stronger in the Level 2 evaluation where the model's performance improved from 22.8% to 82.1%, outperforming GPT 5.6 Sol's accuracy of 57%.

Day-0 Launch Support for Nemotron 3.5 Super VL

A model is only as useful as the engine that serves it. As state-of-the-art open models continue to multiply, so does the demand for high-performance inference. Every token per second matters and every millisecond of latency counts.

Mindbeam is equally thrilled to announce first-class support for NVIDIA's Nemotron 3.5 Super VL in the Litespark Inference Engine. The results speak for themselves: running on just two NVIDIA H200 GPUs, Litespark achieves 962 tokens per second per user and 947 tokens per second in output throughput in our warm-start benchmark.

The Litespark Inference Engine also supports a wide range of tunable parameters, allowing users to optimize performance for their specific workloads. Whether optimizing for throughput, latency or hardware utilization, Litespark provides the flexibility to support a diverse range of production scenarios for open-source model deployments.

Mindbeam has developed a model that can generate performance-critical systems code, paired with an engine designed to get the most out of modern accelerators.

This is the direction open source AI is heading: making frontier-class capabilities faster, more cost effective, and more accessible to everyone.

"We are proud to be building this future alongside NVIDIA's open models, and we can't wait to show you what comes next", said Nii Osae, founder and CEO of Mindbeam.

Learn more: https://mindbeam.ai/research/mindbeam-nvidia-nemotron-collaboration

About Mindbeam

Mindbeam is an enterprise AI infrastructure startup founded in 2024 by Nii Osae and based in New York City. The company specializes in LLM optimization, building frameworks designed to significantly accelerate generative AI training and inference. Its flagship framework, Litespark, is a high-throughput, energy-efficient system built to work with NVIDIA accelerated computing. It enables up to 6x faster model training cycles while reducing AI energy consumption by up to 86%. Mindbeam's mission is to improve performance, reduce costs and optimize resource utilization for enterprises running workloads on NVIDIA GPU instances. The company addresses the growing demand for more efficient and cost-effective AI infrastructure.

Media Contact:

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SOURCE Mindbeam

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NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Gartner®, a company that delivers actionable, objective insights to executives and their teams, has recognized Deloitte as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Digital Marketing Agencies.

Deloitte also was recognized in all seven Use Cases in the accompanying 2026 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Digital Marketing Agencies report.

"To us, this recognition from Gartner builds on our placement as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Experience Services and we believe that it reflects the strength of our 'Growth Agency' model that combines brand strategy, agency and marketing services, and customer experience engineering, each enabled with advanced agentic capabilities," says Mark Lush, Deloitte Global Consulting Services Customer Offering Portfolio leader and Global Head of Deloitte Digital.

"We're experienced in bringing creativity and technology together. That combination helps us transform brand ideas to a living platform: campaigns, content supply chain, digital commerce, and omnichannel execution to help realize competitive advantage and profitable growth," says Emanuele Viora, Deloitte Digital Global Agency leader.

Deloitte was recognized across seven Use Case categories, particularly in AI-Driven Marketing Innovation, Digital Commerce & CX Overhaul, Website & Digital Product Design, and Data-Driven Performance Marketing. Foundational to these Use Cases are Deloitte's proprietary Converge Marketing OS assets and tools, including CreativEdge, ConvergeCONSUMER™, MSuite™, Navigate™, and AI Advantage for Marketing.

"Today's digital marketers are operating in a fundamentally different environment than even two years ago. The challenge today is bigger than creating campaigns. It is about orchestrating technology, AI, data, creative, and the operating model itself into new ways of working. We embed our industry + agency + operating knowledge to help drive meaningful competitive value for Deloitte's clients," says Mark Singer, US Deloitte Digital Marketing Services leader and CMO.

Gartner Disclaimer

Source: Gartner Magic Quadrant for Global Digital Marketing Agencies, By Jay Wilson, Philip Black, Jen Kady, Published 25 August 2026 - ID G00841300

Source: Gartner Critical Capabilities for Global Digital Marketing Agencies, By Philip Black, Jay Wilson, Jen Kady, Published 26 August 2026 - ID G00850979

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

For more about Deloitte Analyst Relations, please visit our Analyst Recognitions page.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), its global network of member firms, and their related entities (collectively, the "Deloitte organization"). DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") and each of its member firms and related entities are legally separate and independent entities, which cannot obligate or bind each other in respect of third parties. DTTL and each DTTL member firm and related entity is liable only for its own acts and omissions, and not those of each other. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more.

Deloitte provides leading professional services to nearly 90% of the Fortune Global 500® and thousands of private companies. Our people deliver measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in capital markets and enable clients to transform and thrive. Building on its 180+-year history, Deloitte spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's over 470,000 people worldwide work together every day to make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com.

SOURCE Deloitte Global

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Plex and Fandango Turn Movie Discovery Into Theatrical Ticket Sales

New integration creates a direct path from discovery to purchase, giving studios and advertisers a new

way to reach high-intent moviegoers

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Plex, the global streaming platform for discovering, watching and connecting around entertainment, and Fandango, the nation's leading online movie ticketer, today announced an integration that creates a direct path from movie discovery to theatrical ticketing by allowing users to purchase tickets as they explore films on Plex. For studios, distributors and advertisers, the collaboration creates a new way to drive ticket sales at the point of discovery.

Starting today, Plex users in the U.S. will see a Fandango ticketing option on title pages for movies currently playing in theaters, allowing them to click through to Fandango to find showtimes and purchase tickets. The integration also enables direct attribution through Kochava, giving studios and advertisers greater visibility into how campaigns and audience engagement translate into ticket sales.

Plex users make more than 100 million streaming decisions each month, with more than 45 million users creating watchlists. Combined with search, ratings and cross-platform viewing, these signals give Plex insight into audience intent, while Fandango's reach across 31,000 U.S. screens provides a direct path from discovery to ticket purchase

"Our vision is to make Plex the place where people can discover what to watch, regardless of where that content lives. Fandango lets us extend that experience to all theatrical releases in the U.S., giving fans an easy way to act once they find a movie they want to see," Scott Olechowski, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Plex. "For studios and advertisers, we're also creating a more measurable path from discovery to purchase, helping marketers understand which campaigns are converting, so they can use those insights to make their media work harder."

"Plex has a unique view into what movie fans are actively considering, from what they're searching for to what they're watching across services," said Jerramy Hainline, EVP, Fandango. "By connecting those discovery signals with Fandango ticketing, we're making it easier for fans to turn that interest into a trip to the theater, while giving studios and advertisers a more direct, measurable path to ticket sales."

Fans can purchase tickets on Fandango now via watch.plex.tv. Visuals available here.

About Plex

Plex is the social entertainment app made for movie and TV lovers, available in more than 180 countries and territories. It brings discovery, community, and free streaming together in one place, making it easier to enjoy everything entertainment has to offer. Discover what's streaming across platforms and playing in theaters, see what friends are watching, swap recommendations, and keep track of everything on your watchlist. Plus, stream thousands of free movies and shows, watch hundreds of free live TV channels, rent premium new releases, and organize and stream your own personal media collection.

Plex. Your watch starts here. For more, visit watch.plex.tv or follow @plex.tv on X, Facebook and Instagram.

About Fandango 

Fandango is the premier digital destination for movie and TV fans, delivering entertainment experiences across discovery, ticketing, reviews, and at-home streaming. Serving more than 50 million unique visitors monthly, Fandango is the leading online movie ticketer across more than 31,000 U.S. movie screens, operates Rotten Tomatoes, the world's leading entertainment review platform, and offers a premium video-on-demand service featuring more than 300,000 new-release and catalog movies and TV shows, including one of the industry's largest selections of 4K UHD titles. The portfolio also includes Fandango1, which provides exhibitors with a modern, cloud-based cinema operating platform that powers ticketing, concessions, loyalty, payments and more for cinema locations worldwide and Fandango FanClub, which gives fans access to exclusive perks and rewards. Fandango helps fans discover, watch, collect, and enjoy entertainment wherever and whenever they choose.

SOURCE Plex, Inc.

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Blue Shield of California Appoints Seasoned Financial Leader Erin Brewer to Board of Directors

Brewer brings more than 25 years of financial and operational leadership to support Blue Shield's affordability and healthcare transformation goals

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California today announced the appointment of Erin Brewer, strategic advisor, and former chief financial officer at Lyft, to its Board of Directors. Brewer brings more than two decades of leadership experience spanning finance, strategy, operations, and corporate governance across healthcare, technology, and financial services.

Since joining Lyft as chief financial officer in 2023, and in her current advisory role, Brewer has helped lead a significant financial transformation, including the company's first full year of profitability. She has overseen global organizations spanning finance, investor relations, internal audit, corporate strategy, business development, and other key business functions. She previously held leadership positions at Charles Schwab, Atlassian, and McKesson Corporation.

"Erin brings a combination of financial discipline, operational leadership, and experience transforming complex organizations," said Pamela DeCoste, chair of Blue Shield of California's Board of Directors. "Her perspective will strengthen the Board as Blue Shield works to make high-quality healthcare sustainably affordable."

Brewer's cross-industry experience will support Blue Shield's efforts to modernize healthcare delivery, improve the consumer experience, and advance long-term financial stewardship in service of its nonprofit mission.

"I am honored to join the Blue Shield of California Board of Directors," Brewer said. "Blue Shield's mission and commitment to making high-quality healthcare sustainably affordable strongly resonate with me. I look forward to working alongside the Board and leadership team to advance that mission and drive meaningful impact for its members and communities."

Brewer holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Purdue University.

About Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. The health plan is a taxpaying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with nearly 6 million members, over 6,800 employees and more than $28 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $60 million to the Blue Shield of California Foundation in the last three years to have an impact on California communities. For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit news.blueshielldca.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn or Facebook.

CONTACT: Mark Seelig

Blue Shield of California

510-607-2359

[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Shield of California

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