Avid, the maker of the Pro Tools audio production software, has decided to sell its consumer audio and video product lines which include the popular M-Audio brand of audio hardware, to focus on "media enterprise and other professional customers," the company announced today via press release.
M-Audio was founded in 1998 as Midi Soft by an engineer named Tim Ryan. First focusing on MIDI software for Apple and Commodore computers, Ryan changed gears (and the company's name to Midiman then M-Audio) and began developing easy-to-use MIDI hardware solutions. After finding massive success in the early 2000s, Ryan sold the company to Avid for $174 million in 2004.
Avid has agreed to sell M-Audio to inMusic, the parent company of other popular audio production hardware brands like Akai Professional (makers of the MPC) and Numark. Avid's video properties will go to the Corel Corporation. The company expects to net $17 million from the sale of all the brands.
[via 9 to 5 Mac]
