Avid (Nasdaq: AVID) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd., a Frankfurt stock exchange-listed public company with its headquarters in Kfar Saba, Israel, for €5.67 per share in an all-cash transaction. Orad is a leading provider of state-of-the-art 3D real-time graphics, video servers and associated workflow management solutions. The acquisition is consistent with Avid’s stated growth strategy, and Avid believes Orad will help it continue to deliver on the company’s Avid Everywhere vision, by adding key content creation and media management solutions to the Avid MediaCentral Platform, the industry’s most open, innovative and comprehensive media platform.
Established in 1993, Orad also maintains R&D operations in Szczecin, Poland and Surrey, UK as well as regional offices in key markets. Orad was established around the theme of virtual advertisement in sporting events, and virtual studios. The company was one of the early inventors of those concepts and market segments. Over the years, the company grew its portfolio, offering state-of-the-art real-time graphics , video servers and associated workflow management solutions that address critical customer needs in news, channel branding, and live sports production.
Orad is at the forefront of those markets. Its achievements have been recognized by both its customers and the media, having been honored with multiple awards, including 2 Emmys. Orad has approximately 240 employees, and reported over $40 million of revenues during 2014. Orad has over 600 active customers around the world, including broadcasters such as RTL, ESPN, TF1, TV Globo, CCTV, Channel 4, HBO, DW, Canal+, Turner and Televisa.
Orad’s state-of-the-art content creation and management solutions further complement and enhance Avid’s existing product suites on its MediaCentral Platform, offering customers more choice and greater flexibility in their Avid workflow. Once the acquisition of Orad is completed, Avid will be able to offer: A powerful, leading graphics solution suite; live event production, news and sports broadcast applications, including virtual sets, slow motion replay and production servers, channel-in-a-box, sports enhancement tools, virtual advertising and cloud-based live production; and differentiated technology capabilities, including image rendering, video graphics IP, video codecs and camera tracking
Over the next 8-10 weeks, Avid will be working closely with Orad to complete their transaction.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More