Report: Avid Sale Rumored

Avid
(Image credit: Avid)

Avid stock jumped over 17% today after Reuters reported that the company is considering a potential sale. 

Avid is the largest provider of video and editing software to the media and entertainment industry and has a market value of more than $900 million; according to sources, Goldman Sachs is working with Avid on the sale, Reuters said. 

Avid increased its annual recurring revenue by 8% in its first quarter and increased subscriptions by 22% YOY, however it missed analysts’ numbers, sending its stock down 20% since the beginning of the year. During its quarterly earnings call last week, CFO Kennth Gayron told analysts, “we are confident in the underlying strength of our business. We expect continued strong growth in our subscription business and a positive trajectory given the strength in our bookings the last 2 quarters.”

Nevertheless Avid CEO Jeff Rossica admitted that supply chain issues continued to affect production and that profitability had been hit by "substantial and unexpected gross margin headwinds for audio hardware."

Avid declined to comment. 

Based in Burlington, Mass., Avid was launched in the mid-80's and its Media Composer editing platform was the first and most popular digital nonlinear editing platform in Hollywood. It went public in 1992.

Avid's biggest shareholders include Impactive Capital LP, BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group. 

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.