Autodesk Inc said its acquisition of Discreet Logic Inc, announced last Thursday, should close early in the company’s fourth quarter, which ends in January. It doesn’t expect any unusual scrutiny or problems from US or Canadian authorities. Earlier this year, the company was the subject of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission which was widely thought to be connection to its earlier acquisition of CAD rival Softdesk Inc. Autodesk, which will combine the activities of Discreet and its Kinetix Inc division, insists that it will keep the Discreet brand name alive and well in the marketplace. The acquisition furthers Autodesk’s continuing move away from its traditional CAD market. The company says that just five years ago, it derived 95% of its revenue from one product, AutoCAD, but that now nearly 40% of revenues come from new products. It’s got high hopes for the $1bn content creation market that the combination of Discreet and Kinetix should allow it to factor heavily in. Autodesk shares fell $5.1875, or nearly 16%, on Friday to close at $27.4375.
