Digital rights management (DRM) player, Macrovision ,
said it has struck a deal valued at $96 million to acquire privately held
InstallShield.
The agreement will give Macrovision’s FLEXnet software licensing and
management platform a larger presence in Schaumburg, Ill.-based
InstallShield’s large software-developer customer base. At last count,
InstallShield’s software and services reached more than 69,000 developer
organizations and 500 million computer desktops worldwide.
Macrovision said software coming from the combined companies will help
software publishers and companies keep track of their creations from
development all the way to the end user, including installation,
administration and updating.
“Our software-developer customers have told us that they want seamless
solutions that will allow them to price, package, protect, deliver, install
and update their software, allowing them to focus on the development and release
of their products,” Bill Krepick, president and CEO of Macrovision, said in a
statement published Thursday.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Macrovision develops and markets DRM, copy
protection and electronic license-management technologies for enterprise
clients. The company’s copy-protection technologies have been included in
more than five billion CDs, DVDs and VHS cassettes. Last year, Macrovision
hatched
plans to develop tools that create “second session” files. The technology
is seen as a crucial step in the quest to figure out how to protect
copyrights on music CDs, yet still allow them to be reformatted and
transferred to PCs and portable devices.
Now, Krepick is plotting a course for revenue streams to pad
Macrovision’s product portfolio in the Software Value Management category.
These types of tools let corporate IT staff repackage applications, resolve
potential conflicts, optimize license purchases and manage updates.
Macrovision said it plans on expanding both companies’ sales teams,
distribution partners and development resources.
The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each
company and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2004. If the
government approves the deal, InstallShield gets $76 million in cash. An
additional $20 million will follow if the company’s numbers are as good as
Macrovision is counting on.
Once complete, the companies said InstallShield will become part of
Macrovision’s Software Technologies Group. Macrovision said it plans to
continue to develop and support InstallShield’s existing product lines.
