Leading sound engineering company Dolby has moved to take over a Swedish sound group. The move has been made in an effort to deliver superior MP3 and True HD sound.
Dolby Laboratories, the developer of compressed audio codecs such as Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sweden’s Coding Technologies, the developer of technologies that can be applied to existing codecs to boost their efficiency.
The purchase price is about $250 million, and Dolby said the transaction would close “very soon.”
Coding’s efficiency-enhancing technologies are used in the AAC+ and MP3Pro formats as well as in the HD-Radio format. The company is also a key contributor to MPEG Surround technology, which can be used with any existing compressed audio codec to deliver low-bit-rate multichannel surround over cellular and Mobile DTV networks and through satellite radio and HD-Radio broadcasts. The technology also delivers a virtual-surround experience though any pair of stereo headphones.
Dolby said the acquisition will “broaden its technology portfolio and expertise for emerging low-bandwidth media applications.”
“By adding Coding Technologies’ expertise and high-efficiency audio compression to our portfolio of technologies and services, we will be better positioned to support our customers as they continue to move into more bandwidth-constrained delivery methods such as mobile networks and the Internet,” said Dolby president/CEO Bill Jasper.
Coinciding with the announcement, Dolby released fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal results for the period ending Sept. 28. For the fourth quarter, revenue rose 26 percent to $129 million, and net income rose to $44.2 million from $25.2 million. For fiscal year 2007, revenue rose 23 percent to $482 million, and net income rose to $142.8 million, up from $89.5 million.
