I’ll search for information about “div x” to provide you with a comprehensive history and summary.# Brief History and Summary of DivX
Founder
DivX was founded by Jerome “Gej” Rota, a French video engineer and animator who created the original “DivX ;-)” codec around 1998-1999. Rota was later joined by Jordan Greenhall, a former MP3.com executive, along with three other co-founders who launched the company as “Project Mayo” in San Diego.
Company History
Early Origins (1998-1999) Jerome Rota extracted and modified Microsoft’s MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec around 1998, creating “DivX ;-)” – the winking emoticon was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the failed DIVX video rental system. Rota was passionate about video and believed everyone should be able to enjoy videos how, when, and where they wanted, at a time when digital video was a frustrating experience.
Company Formation (1999-2001) Jordan Greenhall discovered Rota’s work and convinced him to form a company. Rota moved to San Diego “with nothing but a pack of cigarettes” where they founded what would become DivX, Inc. The company initially worked on an open-source project called OpenDivX, but later developed proprietary versions starting with DivX 4.0.
Growth and Public Company (2000s) DivX went public on September 27, 2006, trading on NASDAQ under ticker symbol DIVX. The company was profitable for fiscal years 2005-07 and acquired MainConcept AG in November 2007. DivX’s software had been downloaded over 1 billion times since January 2003.
Ownership Changes (2010s-Present) The company went through several ownership changes: acquired by Sonic Solutions in 2010, then by Rovi Corporation in 2011, sold to Blackstone Group and Parallax Capital in 2014 for $75 million, acquired by NeuLion for $62.5 million in 2015, and finally certain assets were sold to Fortress Investment Group in 2018.
Where DivX is Today
Current Operations DivX, LLC continues to operate from their headquarters in San Diego and releases new versions of DivX Software for Windows and macOS. The company has licensed its technologies to manufacturers, with over 1 billion DivX-enabled devices shipped worldwide across more than 2,500 product models.
Modern Business Model Today, DivX specializes in creating software for playing, converting, and casting videos, supporting formats such as DivX, AVI, MKV, and HEVC up to 4K resolution. The company focuses heavily on patent licensing, with CEO Noel Egnatios being recognized as an IAM 300 World’s Leading IP Strategist for Licensing in 2023.
Market Position DivX has licensed more than 75% of the global smart TV market and continues to sign licensing agreements with major consumer electronics companies. Over the past 25 years, the company has worked to perfect the video experience, pioneering compression technology that sparked widespread adoption of online digital video.
The company has evolved from a revolutionary codec creator to a patent licensing and software company, maintaining its San Diego headquarters while focusing on intellectual property monetization and continued software development.