Others who are in the know about Sonic Foundry are not worried about Vegas Video. There are lots of assets available at SoFo that can be sold without getting rid of Vegas, SoundForge or Acid.

If the CEO of SoFo is stupid enough to sell VV, he will be vilified beyond recognition. The same word of mouth that 'made' VV can also be used to crush Sonic Foundry. And we are not afraid to do that.

I'ts all just rumors at this point. As long as Corel doesn't get their hands on it, I'm not worried.

DV Expo West and Films Cut with Final Cut Pro
 

This kind of says it all:

“I used to work on high end Avid systems — you know the ridiculous $100,000 systems,” says Gasparino. “We used to rent out Avid suites in Manhattan for $1,500 a week, before Final Cut Pro came out." Gasparino studied film at C.W. Post, as part of Long Island University, graduating in 1998.

“One reason that Final Cut Pro is such a revolution is because all the extra money that used to be used for post production can now be used for better images and higher end production. If you own a good camera you have everything you need,” he adds.

This link tells a little about some of the films shown at the DV Expo Film Festival.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/article...12/dvfilmfest/

The article contains links to some great sites about the films at the festival. Some great reading.

Jeff

"If the CEO of SoFo is stupid enough to sell..."

Never underestimate the stupidity, arrogance or ignorance of a CEO or a CFO...

Bill from Houston, Home of ENRON.

Don't forget greed.

Greed? No way. These folks are hanging on by their finanicial fingernails. No one is being greedy. Struggling to survive is more like it.

The company continues to bleed cash. Sales for the year are flat for the third year running and for every dollar of revenue they are spending a $1.25, an improvement over last year when a $1 of revenue cost $1.67, but still not good.

The company has got to sell assets because it is running out of cash. Without going into the numbers too deeply it looks like the margins on software are much better than the services margins, which would suggest that they should focus on software and sell services. The only problem with that approach is that if the service side of their business is a dog, it might not raise the necessary cash. That might force software asset sales.

The stockholder's letter talks about their MediaSite business as an area for growth and suggests that " the current market capitalization of Sonic Foundry does not properly reflect the true combined value of various intangible assets and intellectual property that the company owns." That sounds like they are ready to sell anything that can be easily carted away, which to me anyway, sure sounds like software sales.



Rick

I'm glad that Rick shone some practical light on this comapny's dilemma. I don't know much about this company and do not use any of its products. But 10 minutes of research on Sonic Foundry's financial situation and background revealed that "greed" is not the issue here. As Rick suggested, the situation is "fear". This is a very tiny ("micro-cap") company that has little prospect of surviving, let alone thriving, if it doesn't take actions now. With only $14 mil in market capitalization and its shares trading at $0.51 nobody's going to get rich from this venture.

Vilifying business people has become a favorite spectator sport, packaged and sold by the media in much the same way that they sell people music, cars, professional sports and clothing. But it's just plain damn wrong to indict someone categorically with little or no knowledge of the matters at hand. Perhaps SOFO had a poor business plan, perhaps their management is inept, perhaps many other possibilities led them to this juncture. But to declare this tiny company's management to be the same ilk as some of the scoundrels that the media has paraded past us lately is just thoughtless band-wagonning.

Thanx for the voice of reason, Ken.
I appreciate it. The sad part is that Sonic Foundry has been a company that literally bent over backwards to listen to its customers and try to give them what they wanted. Unlike some of these other companies, like Adobe or Creative, who give a tinker's damn for what their paying public wants and needs.

The deal is for $8.2 million in cash and $15.8 million in Pinnacle Systems common stock. Even with the cash I doubt they can make a go of it. I would expect Pinnacle systems to buy the remnants in a year or two.

Jeff

With the stock trading so low the complete buy-out may actually happen much sooner if NASDAQ de-lists them, an inevitabllity if it continues to fall and liquidity in SOFO shares evaporates.

Panasonic' New Compact, Low-Cost 3-Chip DLP Projector
 

I came across this interesting news release, dated December 2, 2002. Digital linear projection appears to be on its way towards ubiquity.

http://www.panasonic.com/PBDS/subcat...01/01_158.html

THat'd work pretty nice in my rec room. Is there a price for it? I didn't see one.

US$23,000 for the PT-D7600U and US$30,000 for the PT-D7500U. Not quite priced for most homes but certainly a modest price for a public theater.