Adobe and Antom Forge Strategic Partnership to Empower Digital Creativity with Seamless Payment Access Across Asia

News

Adobe and Antom Forge Strategic Partnership to Empower Digital Creativity with Seamless Payment Access Across Asia

2025-04-15 13:54 Last Updated At：14:01

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 15, 2025--

Adobe and Antom, a leading provider of unified merchant payments and digitisation solutions under Ant International, today announced a strategic partnership to launch an optimized payment experience and tailored digital marketing offerings for Adobe’s customers across Asia.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250414876555/en/

“At Adobe, we’re always looking to deliver elevated and localized experiences for our customers. As our base of customers in Asia fast expands, we’re excited to announce our partnership with Antom to integrate localized payment options for our customers and unlock new growth opportunities in the various markets we’re expanding with Antom into,” said Matt Wegner, Vice President, Global Payments, at Adobe.

Adobe will integrate localized payment solutions to strengthen its global footprint with its user-centric approach. Leveraging Antom's comprehensive acquiring network, advanced payment technology and broad local payment method coverage across Asia, this partnership will help Adobe optimize transaction flows, increasing conversion rates, and ensuring fast, secure and cost-effective payment settlement.

In the first phase of the collaboration, 8 new alternative payment options will be rolled out across 8 key Asian markets, including AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), DANA (Indonesia), GCash (the Philippines), Kakao Pay (South Korea), Momo (Vietnam), PayPay (Japan), Touch ‘n Go (Malaysia) and True Money (Thailand). Moving forward, both companies may explore opportunities to introduce additional payment methods to include credit cards, bank transfers, digital wallets, and more.

"We are excited to collaborate with Adobe, a pioneer in leveraging AI to enhance creativity and productivity for its users. Through this partnership, we aim to make Adobe's advanced tools more accessible to a broader customer base in high-growth markets. Adobe's AI strategy aligns closely with our commitment to supporting merchants with unified payment solutions powered by AI, and we look forward to driving greater synergy together," said Gary Liu, General Manager of Antom, Ant International.

Beyond payments, the two parties will explore opportunities to introduce Adobe into Antom’s A+ Rewards, an in-App digital marketing platform powered by privacy-preserving computing and AI technologies. It connects brands with hundreds of millions of e-wallet users by embedding with leading e-wallets in Asia. This collaboration is expected to help Adobe improve customer acquisition and engagement through targeted campaigns integrated into users’ everyday digital payment experiences.

“We work with global industry leaders to enhance their presence and advance digital innovations in Asia and beyond, and the partnership with Adobe is part of that effort. We look forward to enabling professionals and enterprises, especially small businesses, to adopt cutting-edge technology and fully unlock their potential," Liu added.

Overall, the Antom-Adobe partnership will enhance accessibility to creative professionals, businesses and educational institutions, helping them leverage Adobe’s products with greater flexibility. Region-specific payment options built on Antom’s robust payment infrastructure will allow Adobe to respond to the evolving needs of customers in the Asia market via an omnichannel marketing approach that will deploy curated offers and content that is supported by their most preferred payment methods.

About Antom

The Reds pay tribute to Pete Rose a day after he was posthumously reinstated by MLB

2025-05-15 08:19 Last Updated At：08:21

CINCINNATI (AP) — Pete Rose was celebrated by the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night, a day after baseball’s career hits leader was posthumously removed from Major League Baseball’s permanent ineligibility list.

There were chants of “Pete! Pete!” at Great American Ball Park. There was a pregame moment of silence, and a choir from Rose's Cincinnati high school performed the national anthem. And No. 14 was everywhere, from the replica jerseys in the stands to the highlights shown on the videoboard.

It was the type of all-out effort that Rose himself would have appreciated.

“This city was my dad," Rose’s daughter, Fawn, said.

Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin and Eric Davis — who played for Rose when he managed the Reds — shared stories about their former manager during a pregame panel, joined by former Rose teammate George Foster. Members of Rose's family delivered the game ball before Cincinnati's matchup with the Chicago White Sox.

“He played baseball with as much passion and competitive enjoyment as you ever could,” said Reds manager Terry Francona, who played with Rose with Montreal and played for him with Cincinnati. “You wanted to be on his team.”

Rose, who died in September at age 83, played for the Reds in 19 of his 24 seasons, winning two of his three World Series championships with his hometown team. His career was tarnished by a gambling scandal that led to a permanent ban on Aug. 23, 1989.

An investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball concluded Rose — a 17-time All-Star who finished with 4,256 hits — repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager of the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday he was changing the league’s policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death. Manfred met with Fawn Rose and Jeffrey Lenkov, a lawyer who represented Pete Rose, on Dec. 17.

Manfred “was gracious, kind,” Fawn Rose said. “Really gave me a forum to talk about my dad, not the baseball player, but the father, the grandfather and really what he means to the (fans) of Cincinnati.”

Pete Rose Jr., who appeared in 11 games with Cincinnati in 1997, said he was angry when he first heard about Manfred's decision because he couldn't call his father. But he called the change a step in the right direction.

“Hate to say this, but it’s not going to bring him back," he said. "If they would have said you’re not going to be taken off the list, but you’re coming back, hey bring him back. But nothing but positives today.”

While Rose's gambling ban made him a baseball pariah, that was never the case in a city that proudly embraces its status as the home of the oldest major league team. He was almost uniformly beloved in his hometown for his relentless playing style and his connection to the Big Red Machine — the dominant Reds teams in the mid-1970s.

“My dad used to tell me all the stories of how hard he played every time,” said Reds reliever Brent Suter, a Cincinnati native. “You know, never took a play off, always was running hard 90 (feet), sliding headfirst, you know, getting dirty every game. ... This was a guy who just embodied toughness, grit.”

There were long lines at several gates as the capacity crowd filed into the ballpark. A steady stream of fans stopped in front of Rose's statue for pictures before going inside the stadium.

There was a black tarp with the No. 14 over the pitcher's mound as the players took batting practice.

“I remember his hustle. The headfirst slides. He was a person with not a lot of talent, but he worked so hard,” said Bob Wunder, 65, of Dayton.

Wunder expressed his frustration with the timing of Manfred's decision.

“It’s awful. They should have done it when he was alive," he said. "If I was the (Rose) family, I would say ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ I’m upset that it had to wait until he passed away.”

The change in Rose's status makes him eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame — long a sore spot for Rose's most ardent supporters — but his Cooperstown induction is far from a given.

Rose's case would be considered by the Hall’s Classic Baseball Era committee, which next meets to consider players in December 2027. A 10-person panel selects eight ballot candidates with the approval of the Hall’s board, and the group is considered by 16 members at the winter meetings, with a 75% or higher vote needed.

“I know I oversimplify things. But what Pete did as a player, if he's not in, there is no Hall of Fame,” Francona said. “But I get it. There are some things that ... I'm glad I don't have to make (those) decisions.”

Jerry Casebolt, 80, of Florence, Kentucky, stopped to get his photo taken in front of the Rose statue before the game. He said he was at the 1970 All-Star Game when Rose bowled over Ray Fosse in a memorable play at the plate, and he also attended the game when Rose broke Ty Cobb’s hits record.

The removal of Rose from the ineligible list was meaningful for him.

“It was great to hear the news,” he said. “Just opening up the gates (to the Hall of Fame), but it’s still questionable. Hope he gets in. Shame he didn’t get to see it.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb