Macrovision’s News
I am certainly feeling overdue to write a post for our blog. This is traditionally our busiest time of year and this year has been no exception, so my apologises for letting my duties here slip.
Like many, I was caught by surprise by the news of Macrovision’s acquisition/merger from last week. I confess that I still don’t understand the dynamics behind the deal and the only quotes I’ve seen around the value of the combined company haven’t helped at all. Needless to say, the executives behind this are experienced industry veterans and must have their reasons, so I assume in time all will become clearer.As our largest competitor, as well as an integral part of many shared customers, our relationship with Macrovision has always been complex. Now it appears that much of that has changed.
I’m left with three general thoughts or observations as a result of this news. Firstly, it’s obviously great short term news that we’ll see Macrovision recede as a competitor even more than we had recently. We had seen and heard rumblings about these types of changes directly and indirectly in the marketplace for the last 90 days or so. It also means there are several very smart decision makers out there who have decided over the last few years that it made more sense to bet on Intraware vs. a much larger alternative company in Macrovision. Secondly, it creates a vacuum for a legitimate new DRM provider in the software/technology vertical. This is a fascinating concept and it’ll be interesting to watch what plays out in the next 90 days.
Lastly though, it’s a problematic statement about the state of the software marketplace and reinforces many of the changes we’ve made within Intraware to expand our focus and portfolio of offerings. On a much smaller scale, customers and investors sometimes scratch their head when we discuss zAthlete in particular and our new market endeavors in general. I think Macrovision’s news, should this really prove to be an exit from the technology marketplace (and read any of the news coverage and see if you can find the word “software” and “Macrovision” close together - I can’t) reinforces the “maturing” state of the technology market overall. That maturation has resulted in a vertical that is growing less rapidly in general and thus is less attractive to many companies to sell to than has been the case in the past.
I believe Macrovision made some significant strategic missteps from a technology and cultural perspective that accelerated their exit from the technology vertical. However, there’s a lesson in this for all companies focused on selling to technology companies.Macrovision will remain a strong presence in our marketplace - if only due to their overall market penetration and depth of their legacy products. So, let’s all stay tuned as this one interesting announcement is more of the start than the end of this story I suspect.
