Microsoft announced that it has agreed to sell its wholly owned subsidiary Softimage Inc. to Avid Technology. Avid purchased the company with cash and Avid stock for a total value of $285 million. In the deal, Microsoft will own a minority stake in Avid and plans to continue its joint initiatives in digital television, interactive content development and other visual media technologies with Avid.

Softimage has worked on production tools for game development, film, and commercials. Under its belt, the company worked on all seven films that were nominated in the Special Effects category at the 1998 Academy Awards. The company also worked on several popular game titles such as Riven and Mario64.

"For the last four years, Softimage has been an innovative leader in the digital media space and will continue this tradition

of excellence as a part of Avid,'' said Craig Mundie, senior vice president, consumer platforms division, Microsoft.

http://www.softimage.com/http://www.avid.com/

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