Getty Images Agrees to Be Acquired by Hellman & Friedman in a Transaction Valued at $2.4 Billion
Check out this article that was just posted this morning on Photo News Today. Looks like some real changes are happening and the stock photography business is showing that it’s more than ever being influenced by new trends and technology.
The writing really is on the wall now, and I think we will continue to see some major players in the stock photography business re-structuring to fit the model that is currently being formed on the web.
Digital photography and the almost instant transmission of images over the web has re-shaped how the stock photography market is doing business, and has given way to micro-stock agencies that are selling images at dirt cheap prices, while not only forcing existing companies to compete, but also changing the livelihood of pro photographers who find themselves now in an increasingly competitive market not only with other pros, but with just about anyone who shoots digital and decides to sell their images.
Ad agencies and other companies alike have discovered that they can purchase images for as low as a $1 at cheap micro stock agencies with the burden of having to wade through hundreds of bad images to find a good one. But they’re doing it, and that has put a real thorn in the side of other stock agencie’s profits.
So with Getty being sold soon and others possibly following suite, the web and technology will continue to dictate where we go from here.
Some really interesting information, well written and broadly user friendly.