KIT digital has packed up its troubles and gained a new identity as Piksel after emerging from voluntary bankruptcy protection to clear its legacy legal and financial issues. It follows a turbulent time as a public company, which had grown through ambitious acquisition. Now with the whole kit and caboodle reorganised as a private entity and an integrated global business, Piksel is concentrating on rebuilding customer confidence and creating value from video for its clients.
Piksel is re-launching at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam. With a new name, new leadership team and a new ethos, Piksel now has around 800 staff. The now private company is positioning itself as a solutions provider, combining video platforms and applications with professional and managed services.
Among its key products are a video content management system and a cloud-based online video platform. These are supported by professional services in experience design, systems integration and managed services.
Piksel is now focussed on delivering value from video for major media companies like AT&T and BSkyB, as well as large corporations that use video in their business.
“Put simply, our goal is to help our clients optimize the value of their video assets. Whether we do that with our software or someone else’s, we’re focused on giving our client’s the edge they need to deliver high performance multi-screen content experiences faster,” said Peter Heiland, the interim chief executive of Piksel.
“The name may be new, but we’ve been helping businesses maximize their reach and return with video for the better part of two decades,” added their chief commercial officer, Kevin Joyce.
The former KIT digital company, originally based in Prague, expanded rapidly in recent years through a number of acquisitions with a total value of over $250 million. These included ioko, a former informitv client, which it bought for nearly $80 million, Polymedia for $34 million and KickApps, for around $77 million.
Trading in shares in KIT digital was then suspended following apparent errors and irregularities in financial reporting. The company was delisted from the NASDAQ stock market at the end of 2012.
A class action suit on behalf of investors followed, which was eventually settled in June with no admission of liability.
The company emerged from a three-month period of voluntary bankruptcy protection in August as a reorganized private company, now known as Piksel. The new board of management says it will focus on sustainable organic growth.