AVID acquires PINNACLE

Avid Completes Acquisition of Pinnacle

Tewksbury , MA – August 9, 2005 – Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLE). Avid will issue approximately 6.2 million shares of stock and pay approximately $71.3 million in cash to Pinnacle shareholders and option holders. As of today's market close, Pinnacle Systems shares have ceased trading and Pinnacle has been delisted from the Nasdaq market.

“The completion of this acquisition immediately strengthens Avid's ability to serve the industries that Make, Manage and Move Media,” said David Krall , Avid's president and chief executive officer. “Broadcasters who are transitioning from analog to all-digital production will now have immediate access to a wider selection of capabilities from Avid, and in the months ahead, they'll experience tighter interoperability between Pinnacle's broadcast products and Avid's end-to-end all-digital production environments. At the same time, we have formed a new Consumer division that will continue to leverage Pinnacle Systems' market-leading brand in the rapidly growing consumer video market. All told, with Pinnacle among the Avid family of companies, we've further cemented our position as a leading supplier of products and services to the world's digital media creators.”

Stale news yes. But I am still appalled by the fact. I was thinking about it because I was compelled to edit in Pinnacle today, due to unavoidable circumstances. As a true blue AVID user, I found the Pinnacle interface quite irritating Actually, I seriously can't see any implications on the above deal. Of course Pinnacle Sys is a good purchase for AVID. But I'm quite sceptical about the amount of changes that AVID can impose on Pinnacle, and even if it does, how long will it take for the changes to be in effect. I'm still wondering whether AVID will have anything new, in time to come for both its own, and Pinnacle users.