Once I received the news that Getty Images was up for sale my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Panicked calls from photographers who are represented by Getty Images as well as other stock companies rang in by the numbers. These worried artists were wondering what would happen to the industry if Getty sells. What would happen? Truth be told, I really don’t know. But what I do know, I learned from what I read:
“The auction of Getty Images appears to be in jeopardy.”
Though several bidders, mostly private equity firms like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and Providence Equity Partners, had expressed interest last month, according to the New York Times, Getty received no offers significantly above its current market value of $1.6 billion”.
So, what does this mean to the average image supplier or user of images? The short answer is nothing. Getty as the leader in the stock image market has a responsibility to its shareholders to explore all possible avenues to gain a high return on the investment. If the company does sell, aside from the possibility of reorganization or of selling off some of their assets, not much will change. Photographers will still get paid and customers will continue to get their images. I suspect that prices will more than likely increase again for some of the more popular Microstock images, which for the customer that uses subscription sites like PhotoSpin, is only a positive gain. Currently, an X large image from iStock Images sells for $15.00 per image while an annual subscription from PhotoSpin sells for $299.00 and allows you to download as many high res images as you need throughout the year. Therefore, whether you need 10 images a month or 100, it won't cost you more than the annual fee.
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