E-commerce infrastructure company Internet
Pictures Corp. (iPIX) Wednesday grabbed multimedia technology provider
PictureWorks Technology in a stock
swap worth approximately $175 million.
If the average closing price of iPIX Common Stock is more than $37.06, PictureWorks stockholders
will receive 4,668,106 shares of iPIX (IPIX)
common stock, and if the average price of iPIX common stock is less than
$27.39, then the PictureWorks stockholders will receive 6,240,981 shares. The acquisition expected to close later this month.
Privately-held PictureWorks provides media infrastructure and services to
Web sites including online auctions, real estate, classifieds, insurance and
A/E/C industries. With its tools, customers can collect, transform and
deploy millions of media objects in just seconds. Its business will be
integrated under the iPix brand.
With the acquisition, the combined companies intend to create an “Imaging
Infranet,” an extensive global infrastructure
of services, networks, and content delivery systems for visual content. Its
services will include:
- Full-service virtual tours provided by iPIX’s photographer network
- Self-service 360 by 360 degree virtual tours
- Instant publishing of still photos to Web sites
- iPIX interactive WebCams
- iPIX Movies
- Transformation and enhancement of user-supplied images
- Visual content hosting and distribution to leading Web sites
“By combining with PictureWorks, we will create the leading provider of
visual content solutions for e-commerce applications on the Internet,”
said Jim Phillips, chairman and chief executive officer of iPIX.
“PictureWorks’ industry-leading
technology and proven track record, together with iPIX’s innovative
technology and global visual content infrastructure, will create a winning
and complementary imaging solution.
“This merger will solidify iPIX’s
position as the leader in imaging for the Internet and will provide our B2B
and B2C customers with the most comprehensive, end-to-end content
acquisition and delivery solution in the market today.”
