Sony Pictures Digital and Sonic Foundry Inc. announced today that Sony Pictures Digital has reached an agreement to purchase all of Sonic Foundry’s desktop software products and related assets for $18 million cash and assumption of certain trade payables, accrued liabilities and capital leases associated with the desktop software business. The acquisition of Sonic Foundry’s desktop software follows the recent retail release of Sony Pictures Digital’s Screenblast Movie Studio and Screenblast Music Studio video and music-mixing applications created in conjunction with Sonic Foundry’s award-winning software team.
Included in the sale are Sonic Foundry’s ACID, Sound Forge and Vegas series of software products, as well as other related assets. Sony anticipates maintaining the group’s Madison, Wis. base. The Board of Directors of Sonic Foundry has approved the transaction and certain shareholders have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the sale. Approval of the agreement may be subject to Sonic Foundry shareholder approval and other various conditions.
“During the past three years, we have come to recognize and admire Sonic Foundry’s engineering expertise and value their software applications. We are excited to integrate this world-class team and their products into our ongoing efforts to produce and deliver the next generation of consumer entertainment services,” said Patrick Kennedy, executive VP of Sony Pictures Digital.
“The sale of our music and video digital software products is a key milestone in Sonic Foundry’s history,” said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. “We couldn’t pick a better partner than Sony Pictures Digital to carry on the same passion and success we’ve achieved over the past 12 years. Consummation of this agreement will give us the cash we need to pay our debt and allow us to focus our attention on writing the next successful chapter of Sonic Foundry’s story—rich media—and building upon the early success we’ve already achieved with our Web presentation solution, Media Site Live.”
For more, visit www.sonypictures.com or www.sonicfoundry.com.
