Avid aquires Ableton Live??

[H20nly]

I bought Ableton Live ages ago.

it's quite good, I'd recommend it.

thats it I'm gonna stop playing around and finally download a demo to try it! if its as good as everybody says I'll probably torrent it. thanks Angstrom!

[Angstrom]

The torrent version of Live is less 'phat', a guy in a music store told me.
Although, that was the same guy who sold me my 'pro' version of Live, with the analogue summing and 32 bit GUI
Hmmm

[ekwipt]

I dont think such a link exist, I spoke to the person over the phone.

That's my whole point. If there was any validity to it, you would be able to post a link. If you can't find a link anywhere, then why start a thread about it?

cos if ya can linkldin it must be tru cos its from the interweb...

I've also heard that Avid is going to release new HD hardware along with a new updated version of Protools (wasn't Protools 8 just released???)

It would be a great acquisition for Avid though

[kb420]

cos if ya can linkldin it must be tru cos its from the interweb...

I've also heard that Avid is going to release new HD hardware along with a new updated version of Protools (wasn't Protools 8 just released???)

It would be a great acquisition for Avid though

A link to an Avid website news story would be a lot better than saying that he heard it talking to someone on the phone.

[Angstrom]

Theres no way this is true guys, avid has cut about 20% of its workforce in the last 12months. On dec 4 (2009) they announced another 120 were for the sack.

Does that sound like a thriving company to you?


Also, imagine the path that this fantabulous story would have to take to go from the meeting room in Berlin all the way to a random salesman in South Africa. That is a somewhat tenuous grapevine to be attached to. I picture the shortest in-between stages as :

Berlin Sausage vendor with fantastic hearing -> Dutch Tourist -> Afrikaans maiden aunt-> her lodger, the crack pipe huffing salesman

[H20nly]

^ killin me...

The torrent version of Live is less 'phat', a guy in a music store told me.
Although, that was the same guy who sold me my 'pro' version of Live, with the analogue summing and 32 bit GUI
Hmmm

its just that Ahbulton Live is like 900 quid and "me mate Trevor" will sell it to me for 12.
"mad amounts of top end, d'you get me? do you get me? get me tho?"



it all reminds me of this --->http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/2868571/

[distaudio]

I heard something quite the opposite.

I heard Ableton have bought up Park Place and Boardwalk and are putting up hotels on them.

Next in their sites is the Water Works and Electric Company.

[henke]

I can confirm that someone from Avid bought a copy of Ableton Live. But please do understand that we can neither tell you which version nor who it was.

Best, Robert

[Ajbbklyn]

An acquisition of Ableton AG by Avid Technology, Inc. would make little sense from a market standpoint. Live has too many similarities to Pro Tools. They are products which serve a similar customer base - regardless of what forum members' opinions of Pro Tools might be.

Case in point:

Avid acquired Pinnacle Systems in 2005 for its Deko graphics software. In doing so, they also took over the development of Liquid - a Pinnacle professional video editing product that was positioned as a direct competitor to Avid Media Composer. Initially they released a new version of Liquid under the Avid banner. But, after a year and a half they handed it back to Pinnacle (something about it being a different code base than MC and Xpress. They didn't want their Avid customers to be "confused" by the fact that Liquid projects couldn't run on other Avid NLE software) and ended its development. They simply killed it. A promised successor to Liquid was announced in 2007. But, as of this writing, it is vapourware.

Also, as mentioned in an earlier post, Avid's balance sheet has weakened, so that it is unlikely that the company would be in an acquisition mode in the near term. As a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: AVID) there is ample imformation available to the public with regards to the company's finances.

Income Statement
For the period ending September 30, 2009, the company earned US$454.2 million in revenue vs. $638.2 million for the same period a year ago, representing a decrease of 29%. This translated to a nine month operating loss of $54.8 million (versus $97.4 million as of 3Q 2008) and a net loss of $50.4 million (v. $98 million as of 3Q 2008). This includes recognition of $17.1 million in restructuring costs. The company mitigated its losses, in part, by decreasing general and administrative expenses by 35% and research & development costs by 21.2%.

Balance Sheet
Cash decreased to $78 million vs. $121.7 at Sept 30, 2008.
Stated Equity fell to $465. million vs. $492.7 million at 9/30/08.
The Company currently carries $227 million in goodwill on its balance sheet. So Tangible Equity would be roughly $238 million.

Statement of Cash Flows
The Company had negative operating cash of $32 million versus positive operating cash of $5.9 million for the same period a year ago. This was driven by accrued expenses, compensation benefits and other liabilities, which used $27 million in cash.

Plainly put: If Avid is not generating cash from their operations, it would be highly unlikely that they would incur additional debt for the purposes of an acquisition - in my opinion.

[Ajbbklyn]

There, I've gone and done it again...


Killed another thread.

[alex.the.forge]

about time they bought a copy, the piratey old buggers

[H20nly]

I believe what the chatty crack smoking music store guy said was:
"Scan with AVG, I did. Going to buy Ableton?".

say that first part fast and mumbley