iPIX has just acquired PictureWorks Technology, Inc. in a transaction
valued at approximately $175 million. This acquisition, coupled with iPIX's
recent merger with Bamboo.com, builds iPIX beyond 360-degree virtual tours
into a complete set of Internet visual content solutions, says the company.
Company spokespersons say that this acquisition will enhance iPIX's offerings with still photo submission, management and distribution in addition to the iPIX virtual tour. Using PictureWorks Rimfire technology, real estate professionals will have the ability to instantly and easily enhance their property listings with additional photos.
"It's a simple "drag and drop" of images from any digital camera, scanner, CD or floppy disk directly into the Rimfire Web page," says the spokesperson. "Rimfire automatically previews, resizes and formats the photos, saving time for the user."
The two companies have signed a definitive agreement in which iPIX will acquire PictureWorks in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $175 million. iPIX will acquire all of the outstanding shares of PictureWorks stock in exchange for iPIX common stock. iPIX will issue 5,367,670 shares of iPIX common stock to the PictureWorks stockholders. The agreement provides that if the average closing price of iPIX Common Stock is more than $37.06, then the PictureWorks stockholders will receive 4,668,106 shares of iPIX Common Stock, and if the average price of iPIX Common Stock is less than $27.39, then the PictureWorks stockholders will receive 6,240,981 shares of iPIX Common Stock.
The merger is expected to close during March 2000.
Upon closing, this acquisition will position iPIX as the only "end-to-end provider of visual content solutions", says the company.
The company will feature:
Full-service virtual tours provided by iPIX's photographer network of 500 professionals serving 5,500 cities
Self-service 360 by 360 degree virtual tours
using iPIX camera kits
Instant publishing of still photos to Web sites using PictureWorks' Rimfire solution
iPIX interactive WebCams
iPIX Movies
Transformation and enhancement (watermarking, annotation, PhotoMovies*, SurroundView*, etc.) of user-supplied images using Rimfire
Visual content hosting and distribution to leading Web sites across the Internet
"By combining with PictureWorks, we will create the leading provider of visual content solutions for e-commerce applications on the Internet," said Jim Phillips, chairman and CEO of iPIX.
Published: March 9, 2000
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