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DivX acquired by Sonic for $326 million

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 02 Jun 2010 4:52 User comments (15)

DivX acquired by Sonic for $326 million Sonic Solutions has announced today that it will acquire digital media company DivX, merging the operations of the company into its own.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sonic will pay about $326 million in cash and stock, with DivX stock holders receiving 0.514 shares of Sonic and $3.75 cash per share. DivX closed the day trading at $8.79, after closing at $6.95 on Tuesday.

Sonic says the deal should close in September, and says the deal will possibly double its EPS (earnings per share) for the fiscal year that starts in April 2011.

For over 20 years, Sonic has provided the software used to press and distribute most DVDs, but the company recently began an expensive endeavor into downloadable content, teaming up with Best Buy for the CinemaNow online movie service.

With DivX, the company should be able to expand its market, as DivX tech is already embedded in over 300 million devices worldwide, ranging from smartphones to Blu-ray players and HDTVs.



"Our studio, storefront, and consumer electronics partners agree: they want a clear and efficient path to deliver premium content to their customers," says Dave Habiger, president and CEO of Sonic Solutions. "The combination of Sonic and DivX promises to be the foremost provider of platforms, tools, and technologies for the efficient delivery of premium video entertainment to virtually any type of consumer electronics device. We expect DivX's deep technology and broad deployment in the CE and mobile areas to give us significant leverage as we expand and enhance our RoxioNow premium entertainment platform."

"Sonic and DivX are both market leaders in digital media and share similar visions about a better media future for consumers," adds Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX. "We also share similar cultures and both recognize the tremendous market opportunity that lies ahead for Internet video services. By combining our products, technologies, partnerships, and talented employees, we immediately create a complete end-to-end delivery platform for digital media, with expanded reach and capacity, at a perfect time to capitalize on the market's rapid development. With the acquisition of DivX, Sonic should be extremely well positioned to serve existing customers, attract new partners, and increase our market presence and potential."

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15 user comments

12.6.2010 17:10

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

22.6.2010 18:46

In this evening's news update, a recent poll shows that the majority of the masses still has no clue what DivX is, and the nerds who are aware of it's existence and capabilities, are, well, aware of it's existence and capabilities. That's about it.

Turning to other news, XviD, Matroska and the Pirate Bay related activities on the interwebs are continuing along in their regularly epic fashion...

32.6.2010 18:53

Originally posted by ivymike:
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

42.6.2010 19:52

Personally, I like DivX. I DO NOT like Sonic. Leave it up to a company like Sonic to ruin a good thing.

52.6.2010 20:46
lissenup2
Inactive

Sonic is a good company that makes comprehensive burning programs. I use it on an occasion when I need to burn something more intricate but maybe only once a year. Granted.......it's designed for the nincompoops who don't know what and how to burn vids, pics, etc.

I used to use Divx a lot but not so much anymore; how widely used is it anyway nowadays?? How many vids are actually encoded in Divx as opposed to Xvid or others? Isn't Divx kind of 'not much used anymore'??

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 02 Jun 2010 @ 8:47

62.6.2010 21:08

I've always had good disc burns with NERO. Sonic/Roxio on the other hand is a completely different matter. I guess I'd be just as PO'd if Sonic were to buy Ahead Nero. DivX is still widely used. You don't see any DVD Players that are XviD certified or 3ivX certified do you?

72.6.2010 21:31

Originally posted by ivymike:
I've always had good disc burns with NERO. Sonic/Roxio on the other hand is a completely different matter. I guess I'd be just as PO'd if Sonic were to buy Ahead Nero. DivX is still widely used. You don't see any DVD Players that are XviD certified or 3ivX certified do you?


Yeah, i agree with you ivymike, NERO is been an outstanding product, in terms of use, and I have seen any players with XviD/3ivX. Now, w/DivX yes, Philips has one @ Walmart for about $40, and I bought one (sadly), but reliability on it really sucked, so none since then have I even see w/DivX nowadays.

83.6.2010 00:54

Yup...nero is good at burning audio CDs...that is all it does, and there are freeware apps that do it better...but nero can do it as well.

DivX sucks...there are better, open-source codecs...and most of them can read DivX files anyway.

Down with DivX, down with Nero, down with MS Office, down with all the crummy commercial bloatware that can easily be replaced by open source alternatives that work better.

93.6.2010 07:47

Originally posted by blueboy09:
Originally posted by ivymike:
I've always had good disc burns with NERO. Sonic/Roxio on the other hand is a completely different matter. I guess I'd be just as PO'd if Sonic were to buy Ahead Nero. DivX is still widely used. You don't see any DVD Players that are XviD certified or 3ivX certified do you?


Yeah, i agree with you ivymike, NERO is been an outstanding product, in terms of use, and I have seen any players with XviD/3ivX. Now, w/DivX yes, Philips has one @ Walmart for about $40, and I bought one (sadly), but reliability on it really sucked, so none since then have I even see w/DivX nowadays.
If it is DivX certified, then it will play Xvid usually. Unless of course the author of the encoded file has no idea what there doing..I used to have an DivX DVD Player and watched 99% of xvid files on it just fine. Just because it is advertised as DivX Compatible/Certified, doesnt mean its highly used. And the few instances I see DivX file floating around are usually older hacked versions of DivX like "DivX ;-)." How many people do you hear say I want to buy an DivX DVD Player to play DivX?

103.6.2010 09:49

That was my primary criteria for purchasing a portable DVD player...yay, Philips!

You're right I don't hear anyone else talking about it being an important feature, but I also don't get involved in many discussions about divx with people...

113.6.2010 11:35

Originally posted by IguanaC64:
That was my primary criteria for purchasing a portable DVD player...yay, Philips!

Its a buying factor, for geeks atleast, theres no arguing that, but the question is are people utilizing this for DivX playback or Xvid playback. My guess is the second unless of course your encoding your own movies with DivX which gives horrible results anyways.

123.6.2010 11:59

I have yet to see a DivX/AVI video show the same clarity as a compressed h.264/AVC video. I'll take MKV and M4V over DivX any day. I see this as no big loss for the av-philes out there.

134.6.2010 07:58

I'll admit that the DivX codec has gone downhill over the past few versions. It does give good results but you have to know what you're doing first.

I'll probably wind up switching to 3ivX...

145.6.2010 11:26
TMitch
Inactive

I have 4 DivX certified devices, Philips is a little fussy, Samsung is a little better but i still get the odd Xvid file that will not play in these players, also have a portable Sony, convering to DivX has not failed me yet with good results. If it wasn't for the DivX standard we wouldn't have any DVD players that could play avi's (Xvid & DivX) through USB connections, etc, and they are starting to push the mkv format also (which as far as I'm concerned is to large a file for mass downloading when you have to pay for bandwith these days). I just hope Sonic doesn't ruin DivX. As far as nero goes, bloatware.

1511.6.2010 16:03

I still prefer h.264/AVCHD.

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