Avid Technology has bought Pinnacle Systems in a deal reported to be worth $462 million. Pinnacle has long been a major player in the video-editing market, and has shipped over ten million units in its lifetime. Avid says that Pinnacle's professional products, such as the MediaStream broadcast playout server and the Deko on-air graphics system, will be added to Avid's end-to-end production pipeline.
"We see this acquisition as the next logical step in our long-term strategy. Just as our acquisition of M-Audio in 2004 brought us into the consumer audio business, by acquiring Pinnacle's consumer video business, Avid will be able to tap into the next generation of video editors while they are still learning their craft. This creates a very large potential customer base for Avid's future. At the same time, we believe that Pinnacle's professional broadcast offerings will fit seamlessly with Avid's business, extending our end-to-end broadcast solutions with servers and on-air graphics products. We think it would be hard to find a more complementary match for these two businesses than what this combination provides." - Avid president and CEO David Krall.