
SoftImage announced this week that they were acquired by Autodesk for $35 million.
Autodesk is a leading 3D software company, makers of acclaimed 3D modeling packages such as AutoCAD (industrial design, architecture, engineering), 3DS Max (video games, video CG effects), Maya (open architecture, used in video CG).
On the other hand, SoftImage’s leading product is XSI, a popular 3D graphics software mainly used in special effects (for the special effects in Star Wars, Jurrasic Park or more recently creating the environment and lighting in the movie 300). They also have a strong foothold in education.
Autodesk is based in San Rafael, CA, while SoftImage is a Montreal company.
One troubling thing in this acquisition is the price paid by SoftImage. The same company was bought by Microsoft in 1994 for $130 million, then was bought by Avid from Microsoft for $285 million in 1998. The difference makes it look like a firesale price, as if Avid did destroy SoftImage’s value 8 fold in a timelapse of 10 years.
Admittedly, SoftImage had back then a star product, DS, the first and only non-linear video-editing suite. DS and the other video editing software has been Avid’s cash cow for the past 10 years, but they didn’t bring any further innovation. Video professionals know now the rest of the story, with the breakthrough of Apple’s Final Cut. Avid announced DS was not part of the deal, and the sale of SoftImage is a strategic move, with the goal on refocusing on their core business (movie editing). Of course, it also brings them cash in hard times.
One can’t help to imagine what would happen if DS was still in the hands of SoftImage and if they had kept working on it and bringing new innovations. Who knows, maybe it could have been a multi-billion dollar company now.