Native Instruments file for insolvency...

[oobesan]

NKS, Kontakt and the NI ecosystem is not going anywhere IMO.

Battery 5
Reaktor 7
FM8 2
Massive (original) successor (not a fan of massive X)
Kontakt 9

Updated FX plugins, they will be ok.

I simply do not understand why people keep saying this. They are currently unable to finance their massive debt. What about that makes you think "they will be okay"?

Many companies have done this including Apple, Marvel, American Airlines to name a few. And only after bankruptcy did these companies turn into what people see today which is extremely profitable companies.

Now I’m not saying NI will become Marvel or Apple but they not only have industry standard software like Kontakt, but a strong foothold in the hardware market with the NKS compatibility and midi controllers. If people think this entire ecosystem (which is highly profitable btw) is just gonna disappear because of debt, I find that very hard to believe. A company like NI has a huge stake in music production and creation and countless brands rely on Kontakt and the NKS ecosystem to even exist. So to me I would be more shocked if NI went away vs survived and became a better version of itself.

They just need to make better business decisions and maybe hire better leaders who actually make smart business decisions that don’t put them in debt. They are not in this predicament because they weren’t turning a profit, the are in this predicament because someone at NI royally screwed up and put them in a horrible situation by taking on more debt than they could handle. At least from the outside looking in that’s what it seems like to me.

Most companies don’t bounce back from something like this when they become irrelevant. NI as a company is still highly relevant in software and hardware.

There is simply nothing in common between these other situations and what is happening with NI. The scale alone os a billion-fold different between Apple and and NI.

[SoftSynthLover99]

NKS, Kontakt and the NI ecosystem is not going anywhere IMO.

Battery 5
Reaktor 7
FM8 2
Massive (original) successor (not a fan of massive X)
Kontakt 9

Updated FX plugins, they will be ok.

I simply do not understand why people keep saying this. They are currently unable to finance their massive debt. What about that makes you think "they will be okay"?

Many companies have done this including Apple, Marvel, American Airlines to name a few. And only after bankruptcy did these companies turn into what people see today which is extremely profitable companies.

Now I’m not saying NI will become Marvel or Apple but they not only have industry standard software like Kontakt, but a strong foothold in the hardware market with the NKS compatibility and midi controllers. If people think this entire ecosystem (which is highly profitable btw) is just gonna disappear because of debt, I find that very hard to believe. A company like NI has a huge stake in music production and creation and countless brands rely on Kontakt and the NKS ecosystem to even exist. So to me I would be more shocked if NI went away vs survived and became a better version of itself.

They just need to make better business decisions and maybe hire better leaders who actually make smart business decisions that don’t put them in debt. They are not in this predicament because they weren’t turning a profit, the are in this predicament because someone at NI royally screwed up and put them in a horrible situation by taking on more debt than they could handle. At least from the outside looking in that’s what it seems like to me.

Most companies don’t bounce back from something like this when they become irrelevant. NI as a company is still highly relevant in software and hardware.

There is simply nothing in common between these other situations and what is happening with NI. The scale alone os a billion-fold different between Apple and and NI.

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

So leaders at NI should actually be looking at how companies like Apple turned things around. They may not have a Steve Jobs but his principles and approach to bringing the company back from the brink of death is a great method to study for any business on any scale.

[ksandvik]

The difference was that Apple was self-contained company, not owned by a private equity firm....

[VariKusBrainZ]

I can smell something funny, is it the dog again or just your delusion?

[stratology]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

The trouble Apple was in during the mid 90s was that their global computer market share had fallen to 4%.

Apple still had enough money to purchase NeXT for $400 million.

Apple’s market value at that time was $2.3 billion.

After Steve Jobs returned to Apple, their stock price rose immediately from $13 to $20 per share - just due to investor confidence in Jobs.

The Microsoft deal was announced after that, at Macworld, and Bill Gates appearing on screen on stage was met with boos. Gates’ investment was comparatively small, it was basically a marketing stunt Jobs came up with, to further increase investor confidence. And it worked, share price increased again, to $26 per share. So the, comparatively small, $150 million investment caused an increase of $840 million in market capitalization in a single day.


Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

[DCrown]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

The trouble Apple was in during the mid 90s was that their global computer market share had fallen to 4%.

Apple still had enough money to purchase NeXT for $400 million.

Apple’s market value at that time was $2.3 billion.

After Steve Jobs returned to Apple, their stock price rose immediately from $13 to $20 per share - just due to investor confidence in Jobs.

The Microsoft deal was announced after that, at Macworld, and Bill Gates appearing on screen on stage was met with boos. Gates’ investment was comparatively small, it was basically a marketing stunt Jobs came up with, to further increase investor confidence. And it worked, share price increased again, to $26 per share. So the, comparatively small, $150 million investment caused an increase of $840 million in market capitalization in a single day.


Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

It is funny to see how Jobs is always considered a hero, well, that's the tumor of Western civilization and only a few see how he caused damage to the world (society, business, culture, music) that can not be repaired any more.

[billinder33]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

The trouble Apple was in during the mid 90s was that their global computer market share had fallen to 4%.

Apple still had enough money to purchase NeXT for $400 million.

Apple’s market value at that time was $2.3 billion.

After Steve Jobs returned to Apple, their stock price rose immediately from $13 to $20 per share - just due to investor confidence in Jobs.

The Microsoft deal was announced after that, at Macworld, and Bill Gates appearing on screen on stage was met with boos. Gates’ investment was comparatively small, it was basically a marketing stunt Jobs came up with, to further increase investor confidence. And it worked, share price increased again, to $26 per share. So the, comparatively small, $150 million investment caused an increase of $840 million in market capitalization in a single day.


Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

It is funny to see how Jobs is always considered a hero, well, that's the tumor of Western civilization and only a few see how he caused damage to the world (society, business, culture, music) that can not be repaired any more.

These things are not mutually exclusive; both can be true at the same time.

In today's age, the only way to build a multi-billion dollar company involves a combination of hyper-financialization and destroying the environment around you. I can't think of any well known recent examples that didn't involve these two things. AI, social media, the MIC, the extraction industries, etc. all follow the same basic model.

[SoftSynthLover99]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

Not alone he didn’t. Without that $150 million investment Apple would’ve had to file for bankruptcy, thus microsoft did save apple even Steve Jobs himself publicly thanked Bill Gates on multiple occasion's for doing so. https://www.econotimes.com/How-Microsof ... go-1683628

That $150 million investment is what allowed Steve Jobs to restructure the company, cut out all the waste and get Apple back on track. Steve Jobs just showing back up is not what saved them from Bankruptcy.

[234north]

Too many people and companies rely on Kontakt. It's not going anywhere.

Seriously, this is just about money right now and not about any idealistic values.

I never said a word about "idealistic values". There is enough business out there related to Kontakt that from a business perspective it would be stupid not to buy it in some fashion.

[234north]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

Not alone he didn’t. Without that $150 million investment Apple would’ve had to file for bankruptcy, thus microsoft did save apple even Steve Jobs himself publicly thanked Bill Gates on multiple occasion's for doing so. https://www.econotimes.com/How-Microsof ... go-1683628

That $150 million investment is what allowed Steve Jobs to restructure the company, cut out all the waste and get Apple back on track. Steve Jobs just showing back up is not what saved them from Bankruptcy.

Without Steve Jobs that $150 million wouldn't have happened in the first place. Even if it had without Steve Jobs the changes required wouldn't have been made so yes ultimately what saved Apple was Steve Jobs.

[BBFG#]

NI current situation has a lot in common with Apple in the late 90s. Apple had massive debt, bad leadership and product management (800+ million they lost in a single year I believe) and if Steve Jobs didn’t restructure and secure that $150 million investment from microsoft of all companies (about $300 million in todays climate, similar to what NI needs right now) apple would look very different and maybe not be the titan we see today. That $150 million investment from microsoft basically stopped them from filing for bankruptcy.

Microsoft did not save Apple. Steve Jobs did.

Not alone he didn’t. Without that $150 million investment Apple would’ve had to file for bankruptcy, thus microsoft did save apple even Steve Jobs himself publicly thanked Bill Gates on multiple occasion's for doing so. https://www.econotimes.com/How-Microsof ... go-1683628

That $150 million investment is what allowed Steve Jobs to restructure the company, cut out all the waste and get Apple back on track. Steve Jobs just showing back up is not what saved them from Bankruptcy.

Without Steve Jobs that $150 million wouldn't have happened in the first place. Even if it had without Steve Jobs the changes required wouldn't have been made so yes ultimately what saved Apple was Steve Jobs.

More like their "salvation" was transferring their manufacturing to Asian sweatshops.
#childsizednets.

Not sure they can ever wash that stain off in my mind...

[stratology]

....

[Gribs]

I worked on magnetic data storage media R&D for 3M in the early 90’s, first on magneto-optical and later in magnetic data tape. I know the guy who worked with Iomega on the original zip disk and had the tech shown to me while still in development. When the iPod was first introduced, the 5GB mini-disk drive, which was a mini magnetic drive from Toshiba, was used for storage. There was lore, not true, that when Jobs first saw it he wrote out a ten million dollar check to Toshiba on the spot. What really happened was that Toshiba showed a proto to an Apple engineer named Jon Rubinstein and Rubenstein realized its potential for a music player. He told Jobs and Jobs authorized the investment immediately. I am not sure whether that is in the Jobs movie; I never saw it or read the biography. That was the point, IMO, where Apple really went into its boom around iPods, digital music sales, iPhones, and iPads.

Contrast that with Motorola. My cousin worked there near Chicago, and his role was working on a thin semiconductor data storage device for a government agency. The tech was like an early credit card-sized SSD. The engineers showed the tech to executives and suggested that it get put into Motorola cell phones for storage of pictures and music. The Motorola execs gave thumbs down and whoever was in charge said “people will never want to store pictures and music on their cell phones.” Oops. He and many other engineers were eventually laid off and the entire group eliminated. It was like the DEC guy saying people will never want personal computers in their homes… again.

[stratology]

More like their "salvation" was transferring their manufacturing to Asian sweatshops.

Every single computer and phone company manufactures their devices in Asia.

Foxconn, for example, manufactures for Amazon, Nintendo, Cisco, Sony, Google, Xiaomi, Microsoft, and Apple.


The only company that gets criticized for working conditions at Foxconn is Apple.
Not actually Foxconn, not any of their other customers, just Apple.


Apple is also the only company that has clear, strong supplier responsibility standards that suppliers need to agree to, they also publish annual reports on human rights, environmental impact, etc.

[stratology]

When the iPod was first introduced, the 5GB mini-disk drive, which was a mini magnetic drive from Toshiba, was used for storage. There was lore, not true, that when Jobs first saw it he wrote out a ten million dollar check to Toshiba on the spot. What really happened was that Toshiba showed a proto to an Apple engineer named Jon Rubinstein and Rubenstein realized its potential for a music player. He told Jobs and Jobs authorized the investment immediately.

That was one of Steve Jobs most significant talents. Toshiba manufactured a very small hard disk, without having a clear idea of how it would be used. Jobs recognized the potential, and acted.

Similar things happened frequently. The Apple ][ was literally the very first mass produced PC on the market. This computer was invented by Steve Wozniak, who loved engineering, but couldn't care less about manufacturing and making his invention available to everyone.

Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in 1968. The first mass produced computers to use it were Apple computers in 1984, shortly after Jobs had seen a mouse for the first time. So the whole industry ignored the potential of the mouse as an input device for the whole time.

When Jobs first saw an experimental computer with a Graphical User Interface, he immediately recognized the potential, licensed the tech and hired key engineers that were involved in the original design.

Same for the touch screen interface of the iPhone.