Digital Domain Acquired By Investment Group Led by Michael Bay
Digital Domain, the Oscar-winning vfx studio and production company based in Venice, California, has been acquired for a reported $35 million by South Florida-based Wyndcrest Holdings Llc., a group led by director Michael Bay, former NFL quarterback Dan Marino and investor John Textor.
Carl Stork, a long-time senior Microsoft exec and principal of Wyndcrest Holdings, has been elected ceo and a member of the board of directors of Digital Domain, effective immediately, replacing Scott Ross, who will remain a consultant to the company. C. Bradley Call will remain president and coo. Bay and Textor will co-chair the board of directors.
Digital Domain’s prior owners included IBM and Cox Enterprises and founders James Cameron, Stan Winston and Ross. However, Cameron and Winston left the board several years ago over conflicts with management.
Bay, who informed the 500-member staff of the acquisition on Monday, intends to turn Digital Domain (TITANIC, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, I, ROBOT) into a vfx powerhouse to compete with Industrial Light & Magic, Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta Digital. He will do this by making Digital Domain more director-centric. Bay is currently directing TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE for DreamWorks and Paramount next summer.
The acquisition comes at a crucial time amid the rising cost of visual effects for tentpole movies and the need for greater capitalization. Digital Domain can now expand into live-action, kid-friendly vfx and 3D-animated features as well as videogames.
“At a time when every top grossing motion picture is relying on digital visual effects to help tell compelling and entertaining stories, we believe this translates into a bright future for companies in this field, and we believe Digital Domain represented a unique opportunity to invest,” said Stork, whose accomplishments at Microsoft included leading the development of Windows 95/98. “The creative and talented team at Digital Domain has a great reputation in both the feature film business and in the commercial advertising community for high-quality, award-winning work. Adding the expertise, business acumen and diverse relationships of the Wyndcrest principals will allow Digital Domain to capitalize on the rapidly expanding opportunities in the entertainment business.”
Digital Domain also intends to expand its software solutions business under Stork via the company’s D2 Software subsidiary, which so far has commercialized the company’s Oscar-winning Nuke compositing package. Stork would like to license several other proprietary tools to support Nuke as a more ambitious compositing suite.
"The continued development of Nuke and expansion of solutions from D2 Software is a key part of the strategy for Digital Domain going forward," said Stork. "We are fully committed to this part of the business and customers can look forward to new, innovative developments for our high-end compositing and effects software.”
“On behalf of all involved with Digital Domain, I would like to thank Scott Ross for his remarkable contributions as a founder and leader of the company over the past 13 years,” Stork added. “We intend to draw on his advice and counsel over the coming years and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
“Having worked with Digital Domain in the past, I am well aware of the talent and creativity of the team here, and understand first-hand why the company has a well-earned reputation for creative and high-quality work,” said Bay. “Rapidly evolving digital visual effects technology is going to allow motion picture directors to tell even more compelling and visually stunning stories in the future, and we believe that Digital Domain is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these new technologies, as well as new distribution channels and platforms.”
Carl Stork, a long-time senior Microsoft exec and principal of Wyndcrest Holdings, has been elected ceo and a member of the board of directors of Digital Domain, effective immediately, replacing Scott Ross, who will remain a consultant to the company. C. Bradley Call will remain president and coo. Bay and Textor will co-chair the board of directors.
Digital Domain’s prior owners included IBM and Cox Enterprises and founders James Cameron, Stan Winston and Ross. However, Cameron and Winston left the board several years ago over conflicts with management.
Bay, who informed the 500-member staff of the acquisition on Monday, intends to turn Digital Domain (TITANIC, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, I, ROBOT) into a vfx powerhouse to compete with Industrial Light & Magic, Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta Digital. He will do this by making Digital Domain more director-centric. Bay is currently directing TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE for DreamWorks and Paramount next summer.
The acquisition comes at a crucial time amid the rising cost of visual effects for tentpole movies and the need for greater capitalization. Digital Domain can now expand into live-action, kid-friendly vfx and 3D-animated features as well as videogames.
“At a time when every top grossing motion picture is relying on digital visual effects to help tell compelling and entertaining stories, we believe this translates into a bright future for companies in this field, and we believe Digital Domain represented a unique opportunity to invest,” said Stork, whose accomplishments at Microsoft included leading the development of Windows 95/98. “The creative and talented team at Digital Domain has a great reputation in both the feature film business and in the commercial advertising community for high-quality, award-winning work. Adding the expertise, business acumen and diverse relationships of the Wyndcrest principals will allow Digital Domain to capitalize on the rapidly expanding opportunities in the entertainment business.”
Digital Domain also intends to expand its software solutions business under Stork via the company’s D2 Software subsidiary, which so far has commercialized the company’s Oscar-winning Nuke compositing package. Stork would like to license several other proprietary tools to support Nuke as a more ambitious compositing suite.
"The continued development of Nuke and expansion of solutions from D2 Software is a key part of the strategy for Digital Domain going forward," said Stork. "We are fully committed to this part of the business and customers can look forward to new, innovative developments for our high-end compositing and effects software.”
“On behalf of all involved with Digital Domain, I would like to thank Scott Ross for his remarkable contributions as a founder and leader of the company over the past 13 years,” Stork added. “We intend to draw on his advice and counsel over the coming years and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
“Having worked with Digital Domain in the past, I am well aware of the talent and creativity of the team here, and understand first-hand why the company has a well-earned reputation for creative and high-quality work,” said Bay. “Rapidly evolving digital visual effects technology is going to allow motion picture directors to tell even more compelling and visually stunning stories in the future, and we believe that Digital Domain is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these new technologies, as well as new distribution channels and platforms.”
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