Dolby’s Visual Frontier

This is Matt Reustle and today we are breaking down Dolby Labs. Our favorite Breakdowns are those businesses, which are widely known but barely understood. Dolby fits the bill. You see the logo everywhere but what does Dolby technology do and how does the business work? To answer those questions and break down Dolby, I was joined by Paul Vincent and William Nott from investment manager, Ninety One. We cover the backstory of Ray Dolby, what Dolby's actually building and selling, and how the business model works. Please enjoy this breakdown of Dolby.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

(for me - https://joincolossus.com/episodes/69279744/vincent-dolby-the-sound-standard) 

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Show Notes

(00:02:50) - (First question) - The problem that Dolby initially set out to solve

(00:05:02) - Some of the well-known products Dolby offers today 

(00:08:41) - The path from noise reduction to enhancing the listener experience 

(00:13:23) - Invisalign: Patents, Patients, Profits; How their codec technology is actually implemented 

(00:16:40) - Whether or not how we record and what we record on can inhibit our ability to use Dolby’s products

(00:18:32) - What the end markets for Dolby look like today  

(00:21:04) - Whether or not they can offset against the consolidation of consumer technology 

(00:22:54) - Targeting manufacturers as customers

(00:26:55) - The trouble in defining Dolby’s total addressable market 

(00:28:15) - Metrics used for measuring the size and relevance of the business 

(00:31:23) - Outlining their royalty pricing model, its evolution, and the model’s dynamics  

(00:34:54) - Whether or not the decline of movie theaters will impact their growth 

(00:38:01) - Thoughts about Dolby’s cyclicality and potential trend impacts  

(00:42:38) - The margin profile and how capital intensive the business is 

(00:46:03) - His views on the potential risks to Dolby’s future 

(00:50:30) - What stops Amazon or Apple from producing Dolby adjacent products in house

(00:53:18) - How risky it is for Dolby to start pushing into the visual side of entertainment 

(01:00:53) - Lessons for investors and builders when studying Dolby’s story