Autodesk All Over? That might happen with the planned purchase of Shotgun Software, a cloud production tracking and asset management solutions company that has been used on productions including features such as ‘Gravity’ and ‘Frozen’, as well as cable series such as ‘Breaking Bad’. As we’re well into the world of full digital production, Shotgun helps track and manage all the ballooning info that is now part of a creatives’ life.
The San Rafael, Calif.-based company needed to get a coherent strategy going forward if it hoped to be competitive. Adobe is one example: the company recently celebrated a one-year anniversary of its Creative Cloud initiative. Avid meanwhile introduced Avid Everywhere at NAB 2014. While not a cloud-project per se, it does position the NLE maker for the move towards better control of media assets beyond the edit suite.
Autodesk Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shotgun Software, a developer of scalable, cloud-based production tracking, review and asset management software for the film, television and games industries. Shotgun’s tools for production management are used by some of the world’s leading production studios and are tightly integrated with many of the most widely used tools in the industry including Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Mayasoftware. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Shotgun and Autodesk share a vision of an industry-wide, cloud-based production management system,” said Don Parker, Shotgun co-founder and chief executive officer. Autodesks broad global network and development resources will speed up the pace of innovation and development of our global platform. Together, we will extend our tools deeper into the production process, and develop new solutions that best support the studios of the future.
Since the launch of the Shotgun solution in 2006, it has become widely-adopted across the industry, providing business tools for managers and visual collaboration tools for artists and supervisors, who are often working globally with distributed teams. More than 500 customers, including a number of leading studios, are using Shotguns customizable system and contribute to the ongoing development of its growing ecosystem of applications. The existing Shotgun team will continue to support current and new customers, and lead future product development.
“The acquisition of Shotgun will accelerate Autodesk’s efforts to deliver solutions that help our creative customers solve the critical problem of operating more efficiently by collaborating globally to deliver increasingly complex productions on time and budget,” said Chris Bradshaw, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “Shotgun brings deep expertise and industry-leading technology in cloud products and production management, so we welcome the team, customers and community to Autodesk.”
Business Outlook
This transaction is expected to close during Autodesks fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2014, and have no impact on Autodesks guidance issued on May 15, 2014.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding: the impact of the acquisition on Autodesk’s guidance issued on May 15, 2014, our business performance, and product and services offerings; the impact of the transaction on Autodesk’s and Shotgun Softwares products and services capabilities, customers, and partners. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: Autodesks ability to timely close the acquisition of Shotgun Software; difficulties encountered in integrating merged businesses; costs related to the acquisition; whether certain markets grow as anticipated; the competitive environment in the media and entertainment industry and competitive responses to the acquisition; Autodesk and Shotgun Softwares success developing new products or modifying existing products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance; general market and business conditions; and unanticipated impact of accounting for acquisitions.
Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2013, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2014, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.
About Autodesk
Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone — from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists — uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk.
