Acquisitions
Jupitermedia acquired Mediabistro for $20 million in cash and a two-year earn-out that may result in an additional $3 million. Lauren Touby, the founder of the New York-based online community Mediabistro.com, who will stay with the company, referred to the $23 million deal as "a marriage of minds and media resources."
Getty Images, Inc. has announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase WireImage, a leading creator of entertainment and event imagery, for approximately $200 million in cash. The deal also will include MediaVast, Inc. the owner of WireImage, and sub-brands FilmMagic and Contour Photos.
The New York Post reported today that Getty Images, Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire Jupitermedia Corporation for an estimated price of $450 million. The Post said that Getty officials have been meeting with Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler and conducting due diligence away from Jupiter's Darien, Connecticut-based headquarters in order to avoid alarming employees. Meckler declined to comment, and a spokeswoman for Getty did not return calls for comment.
Jupiterimages has acquired all the shares of Workbook Inc. from Alexis Scott giving it control of workbookstock.com. Simultaneously, Alexis Scott purchased back from Jupiterimages the print directories, Workbook.com and all the other products that help generate assignments for photographers and illustrators.
Getty Images, Inc. has announced the acquisition of Ireland-based Pixel Images Holdings Limited, the parent company of Stockbyte and Stockdisc for $135 million in cash. Photographers shooting for other Getty brands are concerned.
This story gives a picture of the consolidation that has taken place in the industry over the last few years, provides a breakdown of the companies that have been acquired and the acquirer. It also outlines some of the effects acquisitions have had on photographers.
Jupiterimages has acquired all of the shares of Stock Image S.A.S (www.stockimage.fr) for approximately U.S. $11.1 million in cash. This includes the Stock Image RM brand and its RF Pixland (www.pixland.fr) brand.
Jupitermedia Corporation has announced a definitive agreement to acquire PictureArts Corporation for approximately $63.2 million in cash, subject to certain post-closing adjustments.
The acquistion includes PictureArts' quality brands: Brand X Pictures, FoodPix, Botanica and Nonstock, as well as its image distribution business. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2005.
Getty Images, Inc. has announced that it will acquire Photonica West from the Tokyo-based Amana Group for $51 million in cash. Photonica produces and distributes two of the world's leading collections of cutting edge, high-end rights-managed imagery.
Getty Images has announced that it has acquired Digital Vision for $165 million in cash and the acquisition is expected to increase the revenue Getty Images generates from royalty-free content. They also announced revenue of $178.1 million for the first quarter of 2005.
Corbis has announced that they have acquired Zefa Visual Media Group and that the combined revenues of the two companies is in excess of $200 million. That should break down to around $43 million for Zefa and $160 million for Corbis in 2004.
Rumors are circulating in the industry that Southern Cross Broadcasting in Australia is interested in acquiring some major stock photo properties, but Tim Moore, Managing Director of Photolibrary in Australia says "When it comes to potential acquisitions Southern Cross is focused on companies engaged in film and video production operations, not still photos or stock footage."
The London Financial Times says the private equity group 3i, a minority shareholder in Zefa, is looking at a possible sale of the company. The FT also predicts that Getty or Corbis might be buyers. However, there is good reason to believe that neither Getty nor Corbis will be interested
And that Zefa will remain an independent company.
Jupitermedia Corporation has acquired all the assets of Comstock for $20.85 million in cash. Jupitermedia had gross revenues of almost $47 million in 2003, but only $4 million of that was for licensing rights to stock photos and illustrations. It is believed that Comstock's current gross annual revenue is about $10 million.
a21 has completed the acquisition of SuperStock's assets including approximately 900,000 images, one-third of which are wholly owned, and an approximately 73,000 square foot facility in Jacksonville, Florida. The aggregate purchase price was up to $5,760,625 of which about $2.6 million was cash. Gross annual sales are about $10 million.
Veer has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Solus Images. Financial terms were not disclosed. The agreement marks Veer's second acquisition in just over a month. (The first was Jukebox Typeface Foundry of Hollywood, CA.) These two acquisitions demonstrate the company's commitment to expanding its business by bringing more of the content acquisition under its direct ownership or control.
This article on 11 of the world's largest stock agencies was written by Pat Hunt and first published in the Picture Magazine in New York. Pat surveyed these companies and sumarized and reviewed their responses. Pat is a Stock and Marketing Consultant, former owner of Light Sources Stock in Massachusetts and currently VP, Sales at Index Stock Images.
ImageState acquired International Stock Photography Ltd, for cash in October. Reliable sources indicate that International Stock had gross revenue of approximately $2.5 million in 2000, and that the sale price was the equivalent of approximately four months of sales.
Convergence has acquired Images Colour Library Ltd., (ICL) a UK based image library for $5.2 million and Zephyr Images for $2.15 million. Sheldon Marshall, former CEO of VCG, is COO of Convergence.
Corbis has announced that it has agreed to acquire The Stock Market. TSM is estimated to have gross annual sales in the range of $35 million. The deal is expected to close in mid-April.
Getty Images has agreed to acquire VCG for $220 million. Getty now owns the three major suppliers of stock images. It is predicted that Getty's revenues for 2000 will be about $440 million which would be about 35% of the total stock industry.
This story provides a breakdown of the stock agencies that have been acquired by other agencies in the last few years.
Picture Network International and Cinebase Software Inc. have signed a letter of intent to merge and create a new company which will provide media asset management services. Still photographers will be interested in this merger because PNI licenses rights to still images through PictureQuest and Cinebase will begin licensing video and film content.
Getty Images, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire The Image Bank from Eastman Kodak Company for $183 million. The cash acquisition is expected to close in December 1999.
Getty Images, Inc. has announced the acquisition of EyeWire, Inc., one of the largest providers of royalty-free photography, video, audio, typefaces, software and other design resources to creative professionals and business users.