Pinnacle Systems

Template:Use mdy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other Template:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Pinnacle Systems, Inc., was an American manufacturer of digital video hardware and software for the mainstream and broadcast markets. Pinnacle was a pioneer of using computer workstations for video production and was the top player in the burgeoning field of digital video effects units for a number of years in the 1990s.<ref name=success /> The company was founded in 1986 in California by Ajay Chopra (CEO), Mirek Jiricka, and Randall Moore.

HistoryEdit

File:Pinnacle Systems logo old.svg

Logo used before acquisition by Avid Technology

Pinnacle Systems was founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1986 by Ajay Chopra, Mirek Jiricka, and Randall Moore.<ref name=success>Template:Cite journal</ref> Chopra, Pinnacle's principal founder, landed his first job in the computer industry with Burroughs Corporation in the late 1970s, shortly after graduating from Stony Brook University. He later worked for Atari, Inc., as a systems architect for its 8-bit line of computers. In 1983, he left Atari to join Mindset Corporation as a engineering manager, a computer manufacturer founded by ex-Atari employees which was deep into development of a graphical workstation based on the IBM PC's architecture. The Mindset computer was released in 1984 to high praise in the press but middling sales. The Mindset did find a niche in video production studios, who used the computer as a cheap digital video effects unit and character generator. As a result, Mindset Corporation established a video division, naming Chopra as its leader, but this by itself was not enough to save the company from filing bankruptcy in 1985.<ref name=reaches>Template:Cite journal</ref>

After the demise of the Mindset, Chopra formed the basis of Pinnacle in 1986 as his first independent venture into digital video hardware. Joined in its foundation was Mirek Juricka and Randy Moore, both also formerly of Mindset and Atari.<ref name=success /> At the 1986 SMPTE convention in Los Angeles, the trio showed off hardware prototypes for their character generator and a DVE workstation to intense interest from attendees. Within a year, they raised $1 million in venture capital and raised manufacturing lines for their first products.<ref name=reaches /> By 1994, Pinnacle had reached $10 million in annual sales and was the top player in the field of digital video effects units.<ref name=success /> In November that year, the company went public after filing its initial public offering.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The late 1990s were marked by an acquisition spree for Pinnacle. In 1997, Pinnacle purchased Miro Digital Video Products of Germany for around $21 million.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1999, Pinnacle acquired RasterOps, once their largest rival in the DVE business (who themselves had acquired another big player by the name of Truevision and adopted their name in 1992), for $14 million.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2001, Pinnacle purchased the video editing business of FAST MultiMedia AG of Munich for $15 million;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a year later, they purchased VOB Computersysteme GmbH for $7 million.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2003, Pinnacle purchased Steinberg, a major vendor of digital audio workstations, for roughly $24 million ($8 million in cash and $15.8 million in stock)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>—only to sell it off to Yamaha in 2004 for $28.5 million.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Pinnacle itself was subsequently acquired by American company Avid Technology in March 2005 in a stock swap valuated at $462 million. The acquisition was finalized in May 2005.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Avid subsequently sold Pinnacle products to Corel Corporation in July 2012.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>