Chyron Acquires Axis Graphics

New Division Will Create News Graphics for Internet, Including Maps, Real-Time Weather Displays, Financial Data

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/14/2008 11:14:00 PM

Chyron acquired Web-based graphics system provider Axis Graphics and will subsequently launch a new Chyron Online division.

Chyron’s acquisition is valued at $3 million, consisting of $1 million in cash, $1 million worth of restricted common stock resulting in the issuance of 195,313 shares and a $1 million debenture due Dec. 31.

The acquisition increases Chyron’s ability to bring high-quality news graphics to the Internet and elsewhere.

"Chyron Online now significantly expands Chyron's core addressable markets beyond the traditional broadcast arena to include Web sites, newspapers, radio stations, mobile phones and digital signage globally," Chyron CEO Michael Wellesley-Wesley said.

Chyron’s new division will create news graphics for the Internet, including maps, real-time weather displays, financial quotes and other charts and graphs, including in 3-D.

"Chyron invented broadcast graphics and I believe that in the future, this will be viewed as a major milestone in the development of digital-graphics creation and workflow,” added Wellesley-Wesley. “Today, we launch our online division with over 150 television station clients and, with Axis ,we are able to address a wide array of new growth markets around the world.”

The Axis system allows newsroom employees to build broadcast-quality news graphics from a desktop without additional hardware or software.

“Chyron is the industry leader for broadcast graphics and this technology partnership takes the Axis service to the next level by providing a one-stop seamless platform to create, composite and distribute graphic content over the Internet for traditional and new media markets,” said Axis founder Randy Pyburn. “And better yet, we will save our clients money."