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SCRI: Avid Ex CEO Now Resigns As Director
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Lightroom is in my cloud. Are they planning on removing it?
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As I understand it, Lightroom is the one program they’ve exempted from the “all cloud only” initiative.
I’d love to know why. but as a regular Lightroom user, it’m delighted.
Maybe the digital photography industry is so much bigger than video, that they simply couldn’t risk the ire of that huge constituency?
Be interesting to know the thinking.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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I’m inclined towards the long held Apple mantra that great software sells hardware.
To be seen as “best in class” with software in any category – and if that software runs exclusively on your companies hardware – software becomes a direct driver of hardware sales.
Didn’t Legacy prove this? If you wanted to run FCP for a decade – you had to invest in Mac Hardware. Period. Full Stop.
So Apple has an software continuance incentive that neither Adobe or AVID will likely ever have.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Andrew Kimery] “Even Apple’s grand re-imagining of what editing could be was little more than a ploy to separate you from your money. 😉
“Maybe. But I don’t think it’s that direct.
My personal opinion is that Apple’s engineering teams obviously get clear advanced looks at the state of hardware development well in advance of us mere mortals. Those engineers then get a vision of what can be done with the new technology. So they write for the new possibilities that are emerging.
I think OS-X – plus AV Foundation – plus Core Video – plus Moores Law – plus Thunderbolt – plus the diminishing importance of a lot of tired NTSC video standards based on 1960s broadcast processes PLUS “internet-ification” all came together in a compelling justification for a wholesale re-boot of editing.
Sure it will separate us from our money. If we want to take advantage of improvements in any technology it’s likely to separate us from our money. In that sense how is FCP-X different from a modern automobile that gets 32 miles to the gallon? Doesn’t THAT makes you want to retire the ride you currently own that gets 12mpg? Same diff.
X is built for the file-based – internet connected world of how video is increasingly done these days.
Built on code that wants a modern CPU and GPU and Thunderbolt class pipes to enable the new ideas.
And yep, that means hardware sales.
As it’s always been, as it ever will be.
There will be no Stradivarius class NLE systems that get finer with age.
Ever.
FWIW.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] “Maybe. But I don’t think it’s that direct.”
I don’t think it’s that direct either (for Apple or Adobe or Avid or Company XYZ).
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[Bill Davis] “My personal opinion is that Apple’s engineering teams obviously get clear advanced looks at the state of hardware development well in advance of us mere mortals. Those engineers then get a vision of what can be done with the new technology. So they write for the new possibilities that are emerging.”
Unfortunately this is much less true than you imagine. It’s a well-documented fact (and I’ve had this confirmed from insider sources) that Apple’s culture of secrecy extends to divisions within the company as much as to the outside. In advanced development, groups may be designing software with no knowledge whatsoever of the ultimate final product. This was the case with the iPhone, for example. Part of the reason for the recent management shakeup – firing Forestall and putting Jony Ive in charge of software design – was to foster an environment of greater collaboration between divisions. Hopefully we’ll begin seeing the benefits of this new approach soon. WWDC announcements and demos should offer a clue.
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David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl -
[David Lawrence] “It’s a well-documented fact (and I’ve had this confirmed from insider sources) that Apple’s culture of secrecy extends to divisions within the company as much as to the outside. In advanced development, groups may be designing software with no knowledge whatsoever of the ultimate final product.”
Same here. That was also one of the things people have speculated on in the hiring of Adobe’s former CTO. Someone who can look over those bulkheads and provide some guidance across software and hardware divisions.
Getting back to the OP, though – Avid. We all have to remember that this is little more than court intrigue at the palace. The stock situation has little to do with the company’s profitability (assuming no actual legal action ensues). Delisting is largely irrelevant. SEC concerns are a different matter, of course.
When a company sells the stock initially, it’s made the money by selling ownership in a company. If you sell 1,000,000 shares at $10 each, then in a very simplistic sense, the company has picked up $10,000,000 to work with. If that stock subsequently goes up to $100 each or down to $.10 each, it really doesn’t affect the working capital of the company, other than as leverage to borrow. The stock can be in the toilet, but if the company is profitable it doesn’t matter. Likewise, if the stock is riding high, but the company is shedding cash, it’s also not good. Neither situation brings or removes more actual dollars into the company in a direct sense.
The danger point is when the outstanding value of the stock goes below the actual, tangible assets of the company (things it owns, cash in the bank, receivables, placed orders, etc.). In this simplistic example, if the stock goes to $.01/share, then the value of those 1,000,000 shares becomes $10,000. If the value of actual assets is $500,000, this means you could effectively take over ownership of a company by buying the stock from all the shareholders. You would own the company at a far lower cost than if you were to buy the actual assets.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
You’ve made a good key point, I think, about the stock. At some point it’s possible some entity can move an aggressive takeover. One option Avid would have would be to buy back the stock and go private.
Another impact the stock can have is employee compensation. If some employees are compensated by stock and it dives, those employees are losing compensation. I don’t know what Avid’s employee compensation is like (are any compensated by stock?) but it may be something to consider.
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The only part of the analysis that I’ll quibble about is that it ignores the fact that the difference between privately held and publicly traded companies is that the latter, being held as a financial asset by a presumably wide range of institutional investors – is subject to much more informed scrutiny than a private concern.
So even tho the company may get it’s 10,000.000 (in Oliver’s example) the acceptance of that capitol comes with significant strings. It forces a business entity to make time for all manner of formal checks and balances from demanded participation in regularly scheduled investor earnings report group phone calls to formal stock ratings from Moodys, S&P et al.
I think that has a significant operational effect on any company.
At worst it can drives companies towards short term profit targets to keep wall street happy. Performance metrics delivered NOW are always more reliable and less risky than those pesky “forward looking statements” that the legal teams are so persnickety about.
At best, it can signal “hey look, a bunch of smart people have looked at what we’re doing and agree it’s a pretty smart path.”
Figuring out when the “charismatic leader” is the right bet – and when the stodgier, but well seasoned older business machine is a smarter wager – is the hard part.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] ” It forces a business entity to make time for all manner of formal checks and balances from demanded participation in regularly scheduled investor earnings report group phone calls to formal stock ratings from Moodys, S&P et al.”
Agreed.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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