Corel acquires Intervideo

Corel today said that it has bought a slice of the HD media pie. For about $196 million, the company which not too long ago was only known for its Corel Draw vector graphics software, adds media software maker Intervideo to its growing portfolio of applications. Over the past two years, Corel also swallowed Jasc, developer of Paint Shop Pro, as well as Winzip Computing.

The acquisition will enable Corel to also access video and image editing solutions of Ulead, since Intervideo holds a majority interest in the company. As a result, Corel said that it will be adding the applications WinDVD, WinDVD Creator, Photo Impact, Videostudio and DVD Movie Factory in the near future. Perhaps most interestingly, Intervideo is one of only three companies that have announced playback support for the high-definition media discs HD DVD and Blu-ray - which opens a new mass market and bundling opportunities with disc drive manufacturers for Corel.

Corel did not say how the previously announced partnership with Sony to release joint digital imaging and video solutions is affected by the deal.

Corel said that it is financing the Intervideo acquisition through a combination of cash reserves, debt financing, and Intervideo’s cash and cash equivalents which stood at approximately $105 million as of 30 June 2006. Corel, which has been through a series of financial troubles in the past seven years, recently raised $80 million in an initial public offering. For the first quarter of this year, Corel reported revenues of $44.3 million and a net loss of $1.6 million. The firm’s cash reserves were listed at $33 million on 31 May of this year.