Who the hell owns what now?

[Stopani]

I've been away a while. Are Izotope, Plugin Alliance and Native Instruments all in the same group of companies now? What happened and why all the changes?

[jamcat]

Yes. Some group called "Soundwide"was formed to buy them out. I believe Dirk from Plugin Alliance is actually the largest single investor in the group, and Plugin Alliance was certainly in the strongest position of the 3 companies. But then they decided to rename the group to Native Instruments, simply because it has the best name recognition and looks less astroturfy than Soundwide.

Why all the changes is pretty straight-forward. Native Instruments/iZotope have been suffering for a long time due to mismanagement and lackluster catalogs, and they were in dire need of rescuing before facing imminent and total collapse. They had already joined up, like two shipwreck survivors clinging to a single life-preserver.

Dirk wanted out of the day-to-day of Plugin Alliance so he could semi-retire to Florida with his considerable wealth. Being bought out was the obvious solution to both situations, though for totally different reasons.

By buying in at the same time, Dirk is still able to maintain some level of control, and continue building to his considerable wealth.

[mixtur.se]

Yes. Some group was formed called "Soundwide" that bought them out. I believe Dirk from Plugin Alliance is actually the largest single investor in the group, and Plugin Alliance was certainly in the strongest position of the 3 companies. But then they decided to rename the group to Native Instruments, simply because it has the best name recognition and looks less astroturfy than Soundwide.

Why all the changes is pretty straight-forward. Native Instruments/iZotope have been suffering for a long time due to mismanagement and lackluster catalogs, and they were in dire need of rescuing before facing imminent and total collapse. They had already joined up, like two shipwreck survivors clinging to a single life-preserver.

Dirk wanted out of the day-to-day of Plugin Alliance so he could semi-retire to Florida with his considerable wealth. Being bought out was the obvious solution to both situations, though for totally different reasons.

By buying in at the same time, Dirk is still able maintain some level of control, and keep adding to his considerable wealth.

Surely Native Instruments was the heavyweight in terms of revenue, it’s 500 empolyees and worldwide offices. Also the group is primarily owned by Francisco partners and the previous owner EMH.

[jamcat]

No. Native Instruments was hemorrhaging. Those 500 employees were a liability, not an asset.

Also, this is an interesting and eye-opening read:

News: Dirk Ulrich steps down from Native Instruments Board of Directors

Dirk Ulrich, former CEO of Brainworx and Plugin Alliance, has announced his departure from the Native Instruments Board of Directors. This comes after his previous resignation from his CEO roles in December 2022, and his subsequent move to Native Instruments, briefly known as “Soundwide”.

Ulrich made the announcement via his social media profile, stating that he had informed the majority shareholders and other board members of his decision to step down from his advisory board role, effective immediately. The Native Instruments group includes Native Instruments, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx.

In his statement, Ulrich expressed his disappointment and regret over the decision, stating that it was not what he had envisioned when he sold PA/BX and joined “Soundwide”, now Native Instruments. He revealed that he had reinvested a substantial sum into the new Native Instruments and had tried for two years to serve the group in a passive advisory role, rather than actively helping to steer the company.

Ulrich admitted that he was not suited for passively advising others on how to run his business, particularly in ways that he may not fully agree with. He expressed his sorrow for potentially disappointing many employees, partner companies, users, fans, family members, and close friends who had supported him in building the business between 2006 and 2021.

Despite his departure, Ulrich remains the largest private shareholder of the group. He stated that he would continue to support Native Instruments from the “outside”, acknowledging that this would be a new experience for him.

Ulrich concluded his statement by expressing his passion for music, technology, and marketing, and his optimism for the future. He quoted a German saying, “In the end all will be great. And if it’s not really great yet… then it’s probably just not the end yet.”

[Stopani]

Ok wow. Thank you both for that information.

[AdvancedFollower]

Any year now I expect all the technicalities of the merger to be complete.

Until then, Izotope Product Portal will continue to proudly proclaim that I can now log in with my NI account instead of my iZotope account, only to tell me it doesn't work when I actually try it.

[stoopicus]

I am low key selling all my iZotope stuff mostly because I fear for them now that they are shackled to NI. It's all good stuff but the future seems unclear to me now.

[Gamma-UT]

I wonder if Dirk watched Silicon Valley before or after he used a chunk of the proceeds from the sale to Soundwide to invest...no wait, donate to private equity.

[sprnva]

Nobody owns anything and they are happy.

[martiu]

we own nothin, eat the bugs

[martinjuenke]

Owner of a Lonely Heart!

[swilow11]

I am low key selling all my iZotope stuff mostly because I fear for them now that they are shackled to NI. It's all good stuff but the future seems unclear to me now.

What are you worried about? The products are still good no matter who owns them.

[jamcat]

Are they?
What if iZotope/NI arbitrarily decides to discontinue them? iZotope bought the Exponential Audio catalog and them promptly killed off most of it. NI has a long history of creating underwhelming products then unceremoniously dropping them.

So the question then is, will you still be able to authorize your iZotope products if they get culled in further reorganization, or if iZotope isn't able to pull itself from its death spiral?

I only have a couple free iZotope products that I've never used, so I genuinely don't know the answer to this question.

[swilow11]

Truth be told, any developer could pull their products at any time. And when you've got a products line in the many hundreds, it's not strange or surprising that some will be abandoned. Still sucks for sure but most would still work for a while longer at least.

But yeah, Izotope/NI products are good. Some of the best in the game.

[jamcat]

Well, I have Kontakt 7. I've been of the opinion for a long time, ever since their troubles became apparent, that NI should drop all of their software titles except for Kontakt and Reaktor, and just focus on keeping them live, because at the end of the day, they're the only NI products that really matter in the grand scheme of things.

But they've apparently dropped even Reaktor, now. So I don't think it's far off to assume that their focus is going to be solely on keeping the Kontakt ecosystem alive, going forward. It certainly should be. There is an entire industry dependent on it.

iZotope is in the same boat (or clinging to the same life-preserver) as NI: when all is said and done, they really only have one product that matters.