9. Dolby Laboratories
100 Fastest-Growing rank: 66
Years on the list: 3
Forty-five years after engineer Ray Dolby developed a revolutionary noise reduction audio technology, Dolby Laboratories' products cut a wide swath across the consumer electronics, entertainment and broadcast industries. The company generates most of its revenues from licensing audio technologies to makers of PCs, software, TVs, Blu-ray players, and game consoles.
Dolby's 3-D Digital Cinema technology also powers more than 4,000 movie screens around the world. Over the last fiscal year, the company capitalized on the digital TV switch in the U.S. through licensing deals with makers of set-top converters. In the first nine months of 2010, revenues rose 25%, compared with a year ago.
Last updated August 19 2010: 7:28 AM ET
