Acquisitions
There are widespread rumors that, in an effort to get out from under some of its crushing debt,
Getty hopes to sell its Editorial Division early in 2015. It has been reported that Q3 2014 sales for this segment of their business was about $65 million up 21% year-on-year. Editorial represents about 30% of the company’s gross revenue.
Last week Taylor Davidson published a list of
86 acquisitions and IPOs in the imaging industry from 2004 to today. Included in his report are a lot of social media acquisitions that are probably of minor interest to my reader. In addition he left out a number of stock agency acquisition, many of which I believe are significant.
Image Makers Stock Photography, Art & Illustration is looking for expressions of interest in purchasing the agency’s inventory which consists of 32,230 tightly-edited and extensively-keyworded digital images. Currently there are 172 individual artists, photographers & illustrators under contract.
Carlyle Group should be trying to sell Getty’s Midstock division (iStock, Thinkstock and Photos.com) to Shutterstock before the value of that segment of Getty’s business collapses. Carlyle should recognize by now that Getty Images has been a bad investment. It is the time to cut losses.
Shutterstock has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
WebDAM, a leading provider of web-based digital asset management software.
PHOTOSHOT, one of the leading international photo libraries representing 5,500 contributors worldwide and representing over 15 million images, today announced that it had completed the purchase of The
Data Archive/Construction Photography, a digital asset management software developer and a specialist photography and licensing company.
Design Pics Inc. has announced the acquisition of AgStock Images, a California based photo agency specializing in agricultural photography. Founded in 1996 by Ed Young,
AgstockImages.com is a comprehensive library of worldwide agricultural photography, representing over 115 leading agriculture, produce, livestock, entomology, botany and plant pathology photographers, including photographers who are also professors and researchers across the United States, Canada, Europe and South America.
Yuri Arcurs has written a
long post entitled “
Microstock sees its first major setback in 6 years and here’s why.” In it he explains (1) why he is pulling his images out of all microstock agencies except iStockphoto and his own Peopleimages.com, (2) why he decided to go exclusive with Getty, (3) why mobile, crowd sourced photography is “a serious threat to stock photography” and (4) why he has invested $1.4 million in Scoopshot. This article is a must read for everyone in the industry.
Pond5 Inc. has acquired the assets of Pixmac, a leading stock imagery network based in the Czech Republic. With millions of stock photos and illustrations distributed in 17 languages and in multiple currencies, the acquisition of Pixmac accelerates Pond5’s strategy to offer a global marketplace where media makers can connect with fellow artists.
Axiom Photographic Agency Limited ceased trading on September 20, 2012, and was subsequently placed into Voluntary Liquidation at a meeting of the shareholders on October 23, 2012 due to its inability to meet its obligations to creditors. The Liquidator subsequently accepted an offer presented by
Design Pics Inc., to purchase the assets of Axiom Photographic, which became effective October 25, 2012.
Image Source and
Cultura Creative today announced the merger of their businesses, two of the most respected brands in premium quality stock photography in the world. The new business which will operate under the Image Source Group umbrella come together in an exciting deal that on day one will have over a quarter of a million premium images under their collective management and a production power house capable of generating both quality and volume of content going forward.
Design Pics Inc., headquartered in Edmonton, Canada, has acquired
Alaska Stock, an Anchorage based photo agency, effective October 1, 2012. The agency was originally founded in 1990 by Jeff Schultz and has became known as “the place” to find quality images of Alaska, and more specifically, Alaska-themed images such as adventure, wildlife, winter lifestyles, and recreation.
Shutterstock Inc has announced that it plans to sell 4.5 million shares in its initial public offering at between $13 and $15 each. This block of shares would represent about 14% of its total shares outstanding.
The Carlyle Group (
NASDAQ: CG) and Getty Images management announced today they have formed a partnership to acquire Getty Images, Inc., from Hellman & Friedman for $3.3 billion. Carlyle will acquire slightly over 50% of the company. Getty Images Co-Founder and Chairman Mark Getty and the Getty family will roll substantially all of their ownership interests into the transaction. CEO and co-founder Jonathan Klein will also invest equity in the company.
Photononstop Group, based in Paris, announces the purchase of 100% of the shares in
Biosphoto, France’s leading stock agency specialized in Nature, Garden and Environment Photography. The Biosphoto collection contains 2.5 million photos and 20,000 videos. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The stock photo industry seems to be going through another round of acquisitions and consolidations as owners of small, niche agencies find it difficult to compete in today’s market where there is a glut of supply, relatively flat demand and declining prices. Many agency owners are looking for ways to retire or move onto something else. I regularly get request asking “What is my company worth?”
On July 12, 2012, the dapd media holding AG, via its French subsidiary Sipa News, took over the French service of Associated Press (AP). After Sipa Press and Diora News, this is the third company dapd has taken over in France. This takeover makes dapd the largest agency partner of AP worldwide. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
Jacksonville, FL based
SuperStock has acquired Seattle based
Science Faction Images. The 40,000 tightly edited high-end science and high technology images in the Science Faction collection will allow SuperStock to “better serve our clients in publishing and advertising,” according to Lanny Ziering, CEO of SuperStock.
At least five private equity firms are bidding to buy
Getty Images from Hellman & Freedman (H&F) in a leveraged buyout worth an estimated $4 billion.
Universal Images Group (UIG), owned by industry veteran George Sinclair (also the founder of the Virtual Picture Desk in 2002 and co-author of Britannica’s Image Quest), has acquired the business rights and digital library of the
MyLoupe and the
Ad Stock Images picture agencies.
Fotolia just received $150 million growth investment and
Shutterstock will have over $100 million from an IPO soon. What will they do with the money? Check out this story to see what we were able to glean from Shutterstock's S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and from other industry sources.
Hellman & Friedman, the owners of Getty Images Inc, have retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co to examine a possible sale or public offering of the business. According to press reports a sale or IPO could value Getty Images at $4 billion. This move follows announcements last week by
Shutterstock and
Fotolia. Shutterstock hopes to raise $115 million in its IPO and Fotolia received a $150 million growth investment from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for a 50% stake in the company
123RF has announced a partnership agreement with Zcool, mainland China's
renowned creative designer platform for graphic designers. Designers
show their work on Zcool and there is a degree of sharing of the work.
Four non-disclosed sources have told Reuters that
Shutterstock is looking for underwriters for an initial public offering (IPO). A Shutterstock spokesperson refused to comment on the report or to supply financial details about the company.
Getty Images will become the sole global distributor for Lonely Planet’s 420,000+ travel images as of July of this year. The collection from approximately 370 photographers has been built up over the last 14 years.