二零零九年三月十七日
By 蒂姆Siglin 特约编辑
专题文章

艰难时期的兼并、收购和缩减规模

几周前，我写了一篇关于 HaiVision-VideoFurnace合并, a combination of hardware and software that appears to provide synergy between two complimentary technologies.

本周, ViewCast公司, the company that manufactures the ViewCast Osprey cards and Niagara streaming appliances, 宣布已完成收购除了Media Server的资产.

Ancept是一家数字资产管理解决方案公司, so the ViewCast play is another example of a hardware company moving over into software and services.

最初的释放, on March 5, noted that ViewCast anticipated the total Ancept asset acquisition cost at a $1.1700万现金支付, 发行400美元,5万股ViewCast受限普通股, 以及对某些负债的假设.

最后的组合是1美元.现金支付0.38亿美元, 发行1,141,314 of restricted shares of ViewCast common stock and the assumption of $355,递延收入负债. 这个价格, ViewCast收购了Ancept的所有运营资产, 固定资产, 合同, 客户名单和知识产权.

Viewcast sees the completed acquisition as a way to step beyond streaming and move down the value chain to content creation and asset management.

"This acquisition is a strategic step towards expanding the size and capabilities of ViewCast,戴夫·斯通纳说, ViewCast首席执行官, “在一个今天仍在扩张的市场, . . . the combination will provide participants in the digital media marketplace with what they want--an integrated provider and one-stop solution for all their video management needs."

斯托纳指出，市场还在继续扩大, driven by high definition streaming and asset management. Stoner says the addressable market for ViewCast now grows to a potential $1 billion market, as the digital asset management market is anticipated to grow at a compound average growth rate of 26 per cent in 2009, 到6.32亿美元.

"We estimate that the market for our combined products and services is now approaching $1 billion annually,斯托纳说. “这些市场的迅速扩张 . . . 强调了结构化的必要性, secure and scalable content management solutions delivered comprehensively, 来自一个受信任的提供者. With the addition of Ancept, we can now very capably fill that role. Our sales and marketing teams are taking the steps necessary to immediately integrate our solutions platforms."

撇开集成问题不谈, ViewCast has also expanded its distributorship in the UK and Ireland, through a strategic partnership with a New Hampshire company that will provide next-day product delivery and first-level reseller support during installation.

"We're pleased to be working with New Media AV in facilitating further adoption of the Osprey card across the European broadcast and post markets,ViewCast销售高级副总裁Gary J. Klembara.

ViewCast approaches this acquisition in a time when companies are beginning to assess their core competencies and modifying approaches to particular markets.

赫斯特是一个很好的例子, making major news this week by downscaling an underperforming asset - the 西雅图邮讯报》 newspaper - to a web-only offering, while at the same time bringing on a new media executive to look at acquisitions.

的 西雅图邮讯报》 today began a web-only offering, although 赫斯特 doesn't call it an online newspaper. Dubbed as "the nation’s largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product," 赫斯特 announced that March 17 would mark the final print issue of the newspaper as well as the first day of the new SeattlePI.com.

"的 P-I has a rich 146-year history of service to the people of the Northwest, which makes the decision to stop publishing the newspaper an extraordinarily difficult one,弗兰克说。. 小Bennack.赫斯特公司首席执行官.

“我们现在的目标是改变西雅图.com into the leading news and 信息 portal in the region," said Bennack, adding, "Seattlepi.com isn’t a newspaper online—it’s an effort to craft a new type of digital business with a robust, 以社区新闻信息网站为核心,"

的 drop from 150 editorial employees to approximately 20, including reliance on blogs and a start-up culture that will see a significant amount of streaming video come into play.

"的 site won’t have specific reporters, editors or producers," said Michelle Nicolosi, SeattlePI.Com的执行制片人. "All staff are expected to write, edit, take photos, shoot video and produce multimedia."

赫斯特 is also pursuing additional monetization of its digital media assets, 包括潜在的收购. 乔治·克利夫科夫，他帮助推出了Hulu.com and also assisted with NBC's negotiations with Apple for content on the iTunes store, 被赫斯特集团聘为数字业务主管.

Kliavkoff, 谁是NBC环球的首席数字官, 去年离开了那个职位, and the move to 赫斯特 provides Kliavkoff an opportunity to expose 赫斯特 - which owns portions of cable networks along with its larger newspaper empire - to the benefits of digital media and the Web.

One way Kliavkoff may approach this is via acquisitions of digital media assets.

""I do think it’s a good time to be acquiring digital media properties,Kliavkoff在接受采访时说 MediaMemo, "because they’re well priced compared to where they were a couple years ago."