Vizrt Ltd. has acquired Curious Software, effective June 1, 2005. In consideration for the purchase of the shares or assets, Vizrt will pay $5,000,000 in cash to the Curious shareholders. Up to an additional $4,000,000 is to be paid in Ordinary Shares of Vizrt as an earn-out in four quarterly installments upon reaching certain milestones.
With the completion of this purchase, the entire business of Curious Software will be integrated into the company and will operate under the name of Vizrt in all markets. The takeover will add 13 staff to the team, making a total number of 148 Vizrt employees worldwide. In the fiscal year 2004/05, ending May 31, 2005, Curious reached revenues of approximately $2.8M and a close to break-even net result.
Were very happy with the positive outcomes of the financial due diligence process, said Bjarne Berg, president/ceo of Vizrt. In the meantime, we have also worked on the cohesion of our products, which are easy to merge. Soon, Vizrt map systems will be replaced by superior Curious products, which we believe to be the best on the market. In addition, new products will be developed and will capitalize on each firms strength. With the acquisition of Curious, we get access to great products and a large installed customer base with approximately 500 customers around the world, including 185 in the U.S. Furthermore, we open the doors to additional markets and new applications like traffic maps. We anticipate that Curious will enable us to accelerate our growth path.
Halid Hatic, president of Curious Software, added, We are joining forces from a position of strength. The combination of Vizrts and our own products will enable us to enhance the already outstanding market position of both our product ranges for the benefit of our customers and all shareholders.
Frankfurt, Germany-based Vizrt (www.vizrt.com) is a leading provider of realtime 2D and true 3D broadcast graphics. The companys software suite offers a complete graphics solution including: character generation, content management and newsroom integration, 3D tickers, virtual studio, weather data integration, virtual sports analysis, information display and virtual effects.
Curious Software (www.curious-software.com) provides tools required to create stunning animations and presentations in easy-to-use and affordable packages. The products are based on a generic multi-layered animation engine, designed to accelerate the creation of the highest quality graphics.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
