Avid Technology, Inc. to Acquire Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Combination to provide Avid with immediate presence in consumer video and expand professional broadcast offerings Tewksbury, MA – March 21, 2005– Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) and Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLE) today announced that Avid has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pinnacle in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Pinnacle shareholders will receive .0869 shares of Avid stock and $1.00 in cash for each Pinnacle share. At closing, it is expected that Avid will issue approximately 6.2 million shares and pay $71.3 million in cash, for a total estimated value of $462 million based on Avid’s stock price of $62.95 at market close on Friday, March 18, 2005. Following the closing, the parties expect that Pinnacle’s award-winning professional products – such as the MediaStream broadcast playout server and the Deko on-air graphics system – will enhance Avid’s end-to-end broadcast production pipeline, which has helped Avid become a global leader in that industry. In addition, Pinnacle’s consumer video business – which to date has shipped more than 10 million units -will form the basis for a new consumer video division at Avid, providing the company with an immediate avenue into that segment. Avid president and CEO David Krall said, “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.† read more...