Last checked at 12 May 2008 10:02
Mobile Tornado Group plc
("Mobile Tornado" or "the Company")
Board change and new investment
Mobile Tornado, one of the leading providers of convergent, presence-based instant communications announces that Eyal Fishler has stepped down from the Board of the Company with immediate effect.
Mr Fishler was the co-inventor of the Company's Internet Protocol Radio Service ("IPRS") technology platform and has spent the last 8 years developing the technology to a position where it is being commercially exploited in the marketplace. The Board, including Mr Fishler, has concluded that as the platform is now sufficiently developed to exploit commercially Mr Fishler should step down from the Board with immediate effect.
Over the last 12 months, Mr Fishler and the Company have been developing a media service platform, further details of which are set out below. The Board has decided that this technology is not core to the business of Mobile Tornado and it was therefore agreed that the Company transfer the intellectual property in this new technology to a new company, Jukata Inc ("Jukata"), in return for a 20% interest in that company. The transfer was completed on 9th May 2008. Mr Fishler, who owns the remaining 80%, will run Jukata and develop the media platform further.
The Board of Mobile Tornado wishes to express its thanks to Mr Fishler for his considerable contribution during his time with the Company. He will continue his relationship with the Company through a consultancy arrangement and will retain 800,000 options in Mobile Tornado plc, from the 1,800,000 he was granted in October 2006.
Jukata Inc.
Over the past year Mr Fishler and the Company have been in the early stages of developing a media service platform, IMOC, that provides a centralised database of a users' media (music and video) through an acoustic fingerprint synchronization process. It allows users to access their media content through mobile, web, set-top box, DVR's, game consoles, or IP Radio. It also enables mobile and cable operators to create a mobile iPod experience with unlimited access to subscribers' content. The service platform also allows users to back-up their media content, such as music, video and pictures, from their home server or mobile device to a secure server.
In order to fund Jukata through the early development stage Mr Fishler has sold his 9,119,259 ordinary shares in the Company and has used the proceeds to provide a loan to Jukata for seed capital. Following the sale Mr Fishler no longer has an interest in the Ordinary Shares of the Company.
Jeremy Fenn, Managing Director at Mobile Tornado said:
'Eyal has been involved with Mobile Tornado since its inception. As the architect of the core technology platform he has made an enormous contribution to the Company's development. I am delighted that we have been able to structure a deal which will allow him to pursue an opportunity that that he is passionate about, but that sits outside of the Company's core activities. I wish him and Jukata every success in the future.
Our focus now is to utilize our core technology platform to develop a suite of mobile applications that meet the communication demands of enterprises around the world. I am confident our team of engineers will successfully deliver against these objectives.'
ENDS
For further details please contact:
| Mobile Tornado Group plc Jeremy Fenn, Managing Director | Tel: +44 (0) 7734 475888 |
| Blue Oar Securities Plc Romil Patel / Rhod Cruwys | Tel: +44 (0)20 7448 4400 |