Corel Enters Digital Video and Multimedia Market - Acquires InterVideo and Ulead

December 13, 2006 - Ottawa-based Corel Corporation yesterday announced its acquisition of InterVideo, Inc. and Ulead, makers of some of the most popular consumer DVD authoring, video editing, and media management software for Windows-based PCs.  The deal, for $198.6 million in an all-cash transaction, adds a range of products to the Corel family, positioning the company as one of only a handful that offer photo editing, DVD authoring and video post-production solutions. 

“We are thrilled about it. This is going to position Corel as the number one world leader in digital media software. We look forward to serving customers with outstanding HD, DVD, multimedia, and video solutions,” said Gail Scibelli, VP, Worldwide Public Relations for Corel.  The company’s longstanding software offerings include the photo and graphics programs CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and Corel Paint Shop Pro, as well as the WordPerfect Office word processing suite.

The InterVideo and Ulead product lines include a portfolio of digital media software ranging from photo sharing and image editing products to video editing, and HD DVD authoring tools including WinDVD and WinDVD Creator from Intermedia, and Ulead’s PhotoImpact, VideoStudio and DVD MovieFactory. Corel is also poised to bring HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc solutions to market.

The combination of three leading makers of digital media and imaging software under one roof mirrors consolidations taking place throughout the industry.  Earlier this year, Adobe’s Acquisition of Macromedia unified Adobe Premiere and Photoshop with Macromedia’s Flash web platform, bringing the prospect of better integration between the former competitor’s products. 

Users of Corel’s newly expanded product suite may also see synergies emerge but it may take some time for the company to take full advantage of new technologies from InterVideo and Ulead. “As early as CES (the Consumer Electronics Show scheduled for early January 2007) you’ll see new products from us," , said Scibelli. Those products will, for the time being, continue to bear the Ulead and InterVideo brand names.

For more details, see the official press release.