Autodesk Will Acquire Socialcam
Is there gold in social video apps? Ever since Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram in April, people have been looking to video apps for the next breakout hit. Autodesk has put its bet on Socialcam, signing an agreement to acquire the iOS and Android app for approximately $60 million. The deal will close in Autodesk's third quarter, so it will take place by October 31, 2012.
This marks a new area for Autodesk, which creates 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, including a variety of AutoCAD titles. Autodesk isn't new to apps, though, as it has released several for the iOS platform. Its Pixlr-o-matic is an Instragram competitor. Autodesk acquired Pixlr last year for an undisclosed amount. Bloomberg reports that Autodesk earned $2.22 billion in the last fiscal year, an amount up 14 percent from the previous year.
Autodesk says that Socialcam has been downloaded more that 16 million times since it launched in 2011. After the acquisition is finalized, Autodesk will work on expanding the Socialcam tools while also scaling the program. It sees the app as a way to find a broad popular audience for its existing technology.
"Many people known Autodesk for what we do in engineering and architecture but...we've been growing this big consumer business giving creative applications to people who draw, sketch and make images," said Autodesk's CEO Carl Bass in a Bloomberg interview. "We really see that the next communication medium is video."
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