StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2008-05-14

• Reuters Frees Content with New API:
  In a pretty significant move, Reuters is making its news content available to the developer community through the use of a non-commercial API offering, through Reuters Labs. This means that you can now take Reuters news and create applications around it, or better fit the content into your existing applications and sites. [...]
  But what does this mean for existing third-party partners like Mochila, that act as conduits for spreading Reuters content across the web? As the new API offering is non-commercial, there shouldn´t be too much of a conflict of interest.
  Mashable.
  Related:
  Reuters´ web content tracking deal with Attributor (Mar. 05).

• New Shutterstock Contributor Earnings Schedule:
  Here are the new facts and the vivid discussion.

QuickLinks For 2008-05-10

• 2008 Stock Photo Market Crash?
  Essay by Phil Nealey, the stock shooter who contributes to Getty/Veer (Somos).

• Shutterstock will be "announcing the details of your 2008 raise on Tues, May 13th".
  Shutterstock forum message.

• From Getty Images´recent 10-Q SEC filing, quite interesting:
  

  

Jupitermedia Conference Call

• Revenues (rounded numbers) per segment for Jupiterimages in Q1/2008:
  • Single Images: $12.6 million (Q4/2007: $12.7 million)
  • Subscription: $7.5 million (Q4/2007: $7.5 million)
  • Distributors, Other: $6.1 million (Q4/2007: $6.6 million)

• Consequently Alan Meckler said that "the weakness came from the distribution side of the business".
• Unfortunately no answer to a direct question about the revenues of Stockxpert.
• "Three to seven micropayment sites will be very successful over the next years".
• "The [microstock] revolution is [still] going on" in a "challenging environment".
• "The RM business is not growing as it used to be".
• The "digital Superstore" (Jupiterdigital) is likely to launch on Sept. 1st.

Jupiterimages Q1/2008 Results

Jupitermedia, the parent company of Jupiterimages, released yesterday the results for Q1/2008. Currently at the time of writing no new JUPM SEC filings are available, and shares closed yesterday at $2.31. The Conference Call will follow today. More details in the press release.

Jupiterimages´ Q1/2008 revenues ($26.142 million) were the lowest in the last two years:

• Y-o-Y down -6,35% or -$1.772 million from $27.914 million in Q1/2007.

• Down -2,39% or -$641.000 from $26.783 million in the previous quarter Q4/2007.

 

(1) Jupiterimages Rev.  (2) JUPM Rev.  (3) Jup.images Rev. in % of JUPM Rev.

Y	2005	Q1/06	Q2/06	Q3/06	Q4/06	2006	Q1/07	Q2/07	Q3/07	Q4/07	2007	Q1/08
1	80.66	26.565	26.807	26.177	27.087	106.64	27.914	27.383	26.824	26.783	108.904	26.142
2	113.75	33.941	35.026	33.784	34.779	137.53	34.771	34.699	34.766	36.128	140.334	34.546
3	70.9%	78.27%	76.53%	77.48%	77.88%	77.54%	80.28%	78.92%	77.16%	74.13%	77.60%	75.67%

 

Alan Meckler said that "revenues from our JupiterimagesUnlimited high level royalty-free subscription offering grew over 100% from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. We are also starting to see significant growth from our recently launched Stockxpert.com microstock subscription offering".

The business outlook for the whole Jupitermedia Corporation for Q2/2008 expects quarterly revenues of $35.0 million - $36.0 million, like in the previous quarter.

Idée Inc Launches Image Search Engine TinEye

On Tuesday, local tech startup Idée Inc. will publicly launch a search engine [TinEye] that its co-founders boldly say will do the same with images as what Google Inc. does with text. [...]

With a small, dedicated staff and several years of R&D work, Idée has managed to develop a set of algorithms that takes an image, compares it to about a half-billion indexed pictures, and returns a list of similar looking pictures along with their online URLs within milliseconds. [...]

The service could be a blessing for publishers, brand marketers and copyright compliance officers who want to track how products are being distributed on the Web. [...] 

Idée's [other] existing service is used by about two dozen clients which tracks down publishers who use their copyrighted pictures and bills them accordingly. The service brings in about $15,000 to $75,000 per client and is growing at a rate of about 10 new customers per month.

Changes at Getty Images

More details in this recent SEC filing here and here:

QuickLinks For 2008-05-05

• Ahead of the Bel, Blair cuts Getty Images on price:
  An analyst downgraded shares of Getty Images late Friday, predicting the stock photography provider has little room for growth as the shares close in on their buyout price.
  William Blair analyst Troy Mastin lowered shares of Getty to "Market Perform" from "Outperform" in a note to investors. The stock finished at $33.15 on Friday. Mastin said shares are fairly priced ahead of an expected buyout from private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC. [...]
  "Shares no longer offer an adequate upside to justify the rating," he said.
  In addition, the analyst noted Getty's first-quarter results reported Thursday were above his estimates, and said the positive earnings make the completion of the buyout very likely.
  AP Story on Forbes. -More new events here.
  Related:
  
  • Getty’s Numbers Suggest Buyout Is on Track (NYT, Deal Book, May 05, 2008)

Getty Images Q1/2008 Numbers (Light Version)

Full quarterly metrics, like in Q4/2007, are understandably missing this time. More here.

Revenue in Total (T), with Sequential change (S) and Year-over-Year-change (Y):

PER	2005	Q1/06	Q2/06	Q3/06	Q4/06	2006	Q1/07	Q2/07	Q3/07	Q4/07	2007	Q1/08
T	$733.2	$200.4	$204.6	$197.9	$203.5	$806.6	$212.7	$218.0	$208.9	$218.1	$857.6	$233.2*
S	-	8.1%	1.9%	-3.3%	2.7%	-	4.4%	2.5%	-4,17%	4.40%	-	6.92%
Y	17.9%	12.8%	10.5%	7.4%	9.5%	10.0%	6.1%	6.5%	5,56%	7.07%	6.32%	9.64%

• Income from operations was $44.7 million:
  • compared to $55.7 million in Q1/2007
  • compared to $47.8 million in Q4/2007

• Net income was $23.9 million:
  • compared to $38.0 million in Q1/2007 (- 37%)
  • compared to $28.5 million in Q4/2007 (- 16%)
    

Assuming another 4% loss in revenues in Q3/2008 and results in Q2 and Q4 at the least like in Q1/2008, Getty Images could be good for 2008 revenues of around $923 million (for various reasons a highly speculative conclusion ...). The company itself expects revenues for 2008 of approximately $900 million.

*The initial projection for Q1/2008 was "approximately $220 million".

QuickLinks For 2008-04-30

• Speaking volumes:
  "The top-end of the market is still selling very well. There are times when images from iStock are alright, but if you need something for an advertising campaign, you won´t use us. High-end agencies will still strive. It´s those in the middle that will be in trouble. Our collection is getting so good that it´s squeezing the ones in the middle. They will need to find a pretty good niche to fit into".
  The British Journal of Photography interviews Kelly Thompson.

• Infinite Collection, MediaMagnet, now EVO images by 123RF:
  "123RF will only add 500 to 1,000 images per working day".

• Like in March and April, I will post only sporadically in the next weeks, except for occasional postings in the press release section and the job section.

QuickLinks For 2008-04-22

• OnRequest Adds $8 Million:
  OnRequest Images, a Seattle-based provider of custom imagery, has raised $8 million in additional Series C funding from European Founders Fund, according to a regulatory filing. The company had previously raised a $9 million Series C round led by Menlo Ventures, with return backers Maveron and Frazier Technology Ventures also participating.
  Related:
  
  • OnRequest Images raises $8 million (JC/Seattle Post-Intelligencer):
    Janice Mayo, president of OnRequest, said the company -- now with more than 50 employees -- is on the path to hit profitability this year.

• Augustine Fou, founder of PictureSandbox and Phreetings (Photo + Greeting), introduces Facebook phreetings.

More News on iStockphoto´s New Subscription Service

Late on Saturday evening iStockphoto posted "Important Subscription Notice for all Contributors" and referred to a separate "Contributor Subscription Information" page with FAQs.

PJ. Morley has done some math on it:

"Early indications suggest that iStock will offer 3 month subscriptions with packages allowing subscribers to download images with a value of between 30 and 480 credits a day.

Shutterstock To Launch Footage Subscription

Pricing below and more details over there in the press release.

Midstock? Either Way, It´s The End For LuckyOliver

Good bye, LuckyOliver, and your very special definition of "midstock" and the Sideshow.

All the best for the founder and for the team!

Break

I have to apologize, but there won´t be regular updates here for some weeks, except for occasional postings in the press release section.

Corbis´ SnapVillage Launches Fake Ad Contest

Just in from Corbis´SnapVillage with the underlying thought: "Big ideas are more important than big budgets":

SnapVillage, the innovative microstock website empowered by Corbis, wants to help creatives unleash their wildest creative impulses! Today, SnapVillage launched a design contest in which creatives craft bogus advertisements using images from SnapVillage.com and forget about that pesky "client approval" thing for a change.

Here’s how it works: create a cool (fake) ad using a SnapVillage image, email it to contactus@snapvillage.com and they´ll send you a free SnapVillage t-shirt (be sure to include mailing address and shirt size). But that´s not all - their ad may even be featured in a future SnapVillage ad or on the SnapVillage website.

iStockphoto Subscription FAQ

Following critical responses from its contributors to iStockphoto´s recent annoncement of the soon to be introduced subscription service (posting below from a Silver contributor):

==================================================================================

==================================================================================

 

... iStockphoto posted on Friday a quite interesting FAQ for Contributors on Subscription:

 

Jupitermedia Form 10-K

For the records from Jupitermedia´s recent SEC filing (long version with some general country specific numbers on page 5 and page 57; short version of the long SEC filing):

 

Latest News from iStockphoto´s New Subscription Service And "Pay As You Go"

Earlier today I asked iStockphoto two things:

• Does $99,00 automatically translate to EUR 99,00, or will the Dollar amount be converted to Euros using the effective currency exchange rate?

• Will there be a special brand name for the new subscription product?

The surprising answer:

• The $99 "will be converted to Euros", currently around EUR 63,00.

• iStockphoto plans that "subscriptions will be capitalized and micropayment will be called Pay As You Go".

iStockphoto to introduce subscription service, starting at $96, for all file types: photo, vector, flash, video footage

Not only Jon Oringer of Shutterstock will probably face a few sleepless nights, but also SnapVillage and Stockxpert which both offer similar microstock subscription services.

iStockphoto, which reported recently 2007 revenues of $71,9 million and expects to generate 2008 revenues of approximately $122 million, will introduce on May 26th a new subscription offering which is currently in private BETA testing:

We hear all the time from potential clients with larger budgets that they need something a little different than what iStock currently offers. Their accountants need the dependability of a fixed cost. So we built iStock Subscriptions for them. [...] Subscriptions will be an additional offering for clients with different needs. [...]

Packages will start for as little as $96/month.  [...] Each subscriber has a daily credit limit.   [...] Every contributor will automatically have their portfolio available for subscribers to download. If, for some reason, you decide you don't want to make your images available to subscribers, opting out is easy and you will be given ample time to do so.

iStockphoto said separately:

QuickLinks For 2008-04-01

• Corbis Creative IQ Trend Report - Girls Got Game and Advertisers are Cashing In:
  This month´s creative trend report illustrates how, in a traditionally male-dominated industry, women´s sports are enjoying a boom as more girls embrace sports as a means of health, style or just for fun. Professional female sports figures, such as Maria Sharapova, Danica Patrick, Michelle Wie, Gabrielle Reece and Mia Hamm are partly driving this trend as they become more fashionable and receive more public attention.
  With the growing interest and participation in sports among females comes an increase in spending on women´s sports and fitness attire. Brands worldwide are eager to tap into the $15 billion that females spend each year on fitness apparel.
  Corbis Creative IQ Trend Report for April 2008 (PDF-Download).
  These reports - initially circulated internally as a guide for Corbis’ photographers - have now been made available to the wider creative community.

A21 Reports Q4/2007 + Full Year 2007 Financial Results

A21 (ATWO), the parent company of SuperStock, the Royalty-Free brand Purestock, the subscription brand PurestockX, of Ingram Publishing/Ingram Stock, ArtSelect and the upcoming MediaMagnet, has released Q4/2007 and full year 2007 financial results (in T$):

 

A21 Revenues = Total, Image Licensing = Im. Lic., Art Select = Art S.

YEAR	2005	Q1/06	Q2/06	Q3/06	Q4/06	2006	Q1/07	Q2/07	Q3/07	Q4/07	2007
Total	9.563	2.935	4.511	5.904	6.283	19.633	6.124	5.696	5.387	6.099	23.306
Im. Lic.	9.563	2.935	3.022	2.986	3.032	11.976	3.168	3.038	2.765	2.936	11.907
Art S.	--	--	1.489	2.918	3.251	7.657	2.956	2.658	2.622	3.163	11.399

 

Unlike in previous quarters, I currently lack the time to describe more details publicly. Please read the fine print in the Financial Exhibits section here and do your own math.
The recent SEC filing has more details: please read all details here.

Rich Pearson on Attributor

A recent HyveUp video interview with Rich Pearson, Attributor´s VP of marketing:

   

QuickLinks For 2008-03-22

• Those suing Getty Images, be thankful a buyout came at all:
  Some businesses can easily be ruined by crowdsourcing.
  Jon 0gg/Blogging Buyouts.
  Related:
  
  • Law Offices of Brian M. Felgoise, P.C. Announces Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Shareholders of Getty Images (Mar. 19, 2008)

QuickLinks For 2008-03-19

• Picollator beta:
  Picollator allows you to upload any picture you like with a person´s face. It searches over the Internet for all matches, without the need to type text queries or rename the picture with specific keywords.
  Techpin.

Jupitermedia Releases Financial Results For Q4/2007 + Full Year 2007

Jupitermedia, the parent company of Jupiterimages, today released the results for Q4/2007 and the full year 2007. In contrast to previous quarters, I lack the time this quarter here on this blog to take a closer look at some financial details publicly, and actually readers used to read the fine print will find all details for their Excel sheets here in the press release. A quick and very general overlook:

 

(1) Jupiterimages Rev.  (2) JUPM Rev.  (3) Jup.images Rev. in % of JUPM Rev.

Y	2005	Q1/06	Q2/06	Q3/06	Q4/06	2006	Q1/07	Q2/07	Q3/07	Q4/07	2007
1	80.658	26.565	26.807	26.177	27.087	106.636	27.914	27.383	26.824	26.783	108.904
2	113.754	33.941	35.026	33.784	34.779	137.530	34.771	34.699	34.766	36.128	140.334
3	70.9%	78.27%	76.53%	77.48%	77.88%	77.536%	80.28%	78.92%	77.16%	74.13%	77.60%

 

QuickLinks For 2008-03-16

• Corbis´ SnapVillage says Goodbye to Beta Soon:
  In January, we announced that we´re ramping up our marketing efforts. We´re primarily targeting graphic designers, art directors and other creative professionals. You can find our first print ad in the February issue of Creativity Magazine, introducing SnapVillage to future buyers. You´ll see more ads in the March issue of Creativity, GD USA and the April/May issue of Photoshop User.
  SnapVillage Blog.

Jupitermedia reports Q4/2007 and Full Year 2007 Financial Results

... next week on March 18th, and not today, as it was announced this morning in a separate press release.

This is partly disappointing since many people were waiting for the new key numbers of one of the few remaining publicly traded companies in what was once is called the Stock Photo Industry, and since Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler said two weeks ago in a meaningful statement "I think we are doing better than Getty. Getty´s numbers cast a bad light on the stock image business and us. Now we move forward without Getty Images' numbers hanging around our neck".

QuickLinks For 2008-03-09

• Interview with CEO and Founder of PhotoShelter, Allen Murabayashi:
  Question: As an entrepreneur or investor, what are your thoughts on competition? How do you view competition?
  Allen Murybayashi: The competition is really Getty Images, and in this respect it´s tough because they are a very well established player with lots of big contracts in place. However, there´s also a lot of unrest in the industry and people are looking in particular for ways to license images very easily for usage on the web. In this respect, there is a huge opportunity for an Internet upstart to come in and shake things up. Getty uses the Internet as a channel; they are not an Internet company. We think this distinction actually ends up being pretty crucial in the operating philosophy.
  Darren Herman/Marketing, Advertising, Media and Technology Blog.
  Related:
  
  • Interview With Allen Murabayashi, CEO Of Photoshelter (July 25, 2005)

PICTA Hamburg

I´m off to the PICTA, organized by the German Association of Picture Agencies, the three-days picture agency fair in Hamburg, which claims to be the second largest event of its kind in the world (which is probably the reason why their website is only in german), so there won´t very likely be any updates here until Monday next week.

QuickLinks For 2008-03-05, II

• Einstein Inc., in death, he mastered the science of making money:
  "When I heard what the licensing fee was, I freaked out", says Ingrid Sinyor of Euro­graphics, a poster manufacturer in Canada. To print five Einstein posters, with a run of 5,000 each, Sinyor says she paid Corbis $20,000 in licensing fees in addition to $5,000 for the images themselves.
  In an effort to maintain its grip on all things Einstein, Corbis and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) have trademarked the Einstein name and image.
  "Suppose I were at a conference and I took a picture of Niels Bohr and Einstein. What if Einstein gave me a picture of himself? Would I have to pay to use it?"
  "We get calls literally every day", says Martin Cribbs, the director of rights representation at Corbis. "And the vast majority are small companies that want to do an Einstein key chain or something like that. Ninety-nine percent of those get turned away. We´re not in the business of one-off Einstein novelty items".
  Even if a company hoping to make an Einstein yarmulke manages to assemble the cash and to get a call back from Corbis, it must leap a final hurdle: getting approval from HUJ. Every single reproduction of an Einstein likeness or creation of an Einstein product must be approved by the university, and, according to several manufacturers, the process is extremely demanding.
  Discover Magazine, two pages (comp.), with A Brief/-er History of Time about the Schroedinger equation, The Roger Richmann Agency, Corbis and the thrill of licensing images of Albert Einstein.

• Search engines, Image conscious:
  Idée Inc. needs to bulk up, both in servers to crawl and index the Web´s unknown billions of images, and in employees to beat bushes for new business partners - and that means getting venture capital. Leila Boujnane needs a VC willing to invest the $10 million or so she thinks the company has to raise.
  Canadian Business magazine, two pages.

QuickLinks For 2008-03-05

• Corbis Creative IQ Trends: travel imagery is changing towards Ethical Tourism.
  Corbis in a PDF about the impact of eco and ethical-tourism on the image business.

• Reuters web content tracking deal with Attributor has revealed thirst for lifestyle and entertainments, the 'infotainment' stories:
  Maria Molland, global head of strategy and business development: "We have been a little surprised they [online readers] are moving more toward fluff stories, infotainment, as a result we are putting a lot more editorial resources behind sport and lifestyle.
  [That] is very different from those Reuters core elements - business, finance and hard news. That was one big shock. The second was understanding how photos are used in conjunction with text.
  Our theory, and I think it has been backed up by Attributor, is that people are using photos and text in conjunction, so it´s becoming much more important to find out how we can create links between different types of stories".

• Associated Press and picturemaxx deepen their cooperation from Dec. 2004:
  All AP Images are now available on i-picturemaxx/APIS, +3,500 new images/daily.

QuickLinks For 2008-03-04

• In "a tough business" Vator Box takes a look at ScanScout, Adify and Pixsy:
  Citigroup Internet analyst Mark Mahaney joins our usual crew to help us rate pitches from ScanScout, Pixsy and Adify. Pixsy is a video and image search startup that also sells white-label search platforms to networks and sites that don´t want to spend the resources to build their own.
  One of the company´s main value propositions is that it does image search better than Google, and image search is one of the fastest-growing search categories, according to Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin.
  
  But as Mahaney points out, how much capex [capital expenditure] spending will be acquired to build the server farms needed to scale the business? A more likely path for Pixsy is the same one taken by Truveo, the video search provider that was acquired by AOL. Advice to Pixsy -- "find a big media company who loves what you do and squeeze a term sheet out of them".
  Vator.tv (the part about Pixsy starts at 12:10 and ends at 15:40).

New Getty Images SEC Filing Form 10-K

From a real long document:

We believe that our best opportunities include growth in non-English speaking markets, growth in micropayment licensing and the introduction of new products and services. [...]

We plan to accelerate growth in licenses of editorial and creative imagery and other digital media content in non-English speaking countries by expanding our product and service offerings in markets that we have not fully penetrated, by creating or acquiring locally relevant content.  [...]

In 2007, we saw continued change in the competitive dynamics in the stock photography market. Our customers have increasing access to, and awareness of, a variety of imagery sources on the Internet.  [...]

Pino Granata: Let´s try to do the right things

 

The stock photography at all is doing very badly.

Still we have to analyze what will be the impact on the industry of the sale of Getty Images to Hellman & Friedman which is the most important event in years. This is a fact that can´t be denied.

Every day there are some more bad news. Now we get to know that Masterfile will fire some employees and other agencies will lower some prices.

But these things now happen almost every day. To lay off employees and to lower prices will not solve the problem of this industry and it will make things even more worse and this is another fact.

20 years ago I was dealing with Tony Stone to represent his agency in Italy.

QuickLinks For 2008-02-29

• This is just stupid, Major League Baseball imposes restrictions for online content:
  MLB has become the latest property to impose limits on news outlets posting online content developed at league facilities, following the NFL´s hotly debated 45-second rule.
  In a new credentialing terms-and-conditions sheet MLB is limiting news organizations from posting more than 120 seconds a day of audio or video from league facilities, with game highlights restricted only to rights holders that have a separate rights deal with MLB Advanced Media.

Shutterstock: raising fees effective March 10, 2008

Just in from Shutterstock, the new prices are up 25,16% - 28,14%:

And: "Our three Enhanced License products will also undergo a price increase on the same date, though these products are not eligible for Automatic Renew".

Related:

• Shutterstock testing new price scheme, contributors payment goes up
  (Feb. 25, 2008)

QuickLinks For 2008-02-28

• New 52Wk Low this week for A21 of $0.01 resp. $0.012 with a Market Cap of $1,32M:
  Down from $ 0.80 (May 15, 2006); $ 0.34 (Aug. 22, 2006); $0.30 (Nov. 21, 2006); $0.271 (April 03, 2007); $0.25 (May 15, 2007); $0.075 (Aug. 10, 2007) and $0.055 (Nov. 12, 2007).
  Related:
  
  • a21: "Strategic Alternatives" (Feb. 15, 2008)
  • a21 Organizes for Growth (Feb. 15, 2008)

• Estimates Put Internet Advertising at $21 Billion in U.S., $45 Billion Globally:
  The Interactive Advertising Bureau has a preliminary estimate of $21.1 billion for U.S. Internet ads in 2007, a 25 percent increase over 2006. (For the fourth quarter of 2007, it is estimating $5.7 billion for the size of the industry, up from $5.2 billion in the third quarter).
  Meanwhile, the Kelsey Group puts U.S. Internet advertising at $22.5 billion for 2007 (IDC, as previously reported, is at the high end with $25.5 billion).
  The Kelsey Group also provides a global estimate of $45 billion for Internet advertising, which is 7.4% of the total $600 billion global advertising market.
  Erick Schonfeld/TechCrunch.

New Getty Images SEC Filing

Full Overview of the awaited SEC filing and its parts and of the Agreement and Plan of Merger:

• Complete document here, short version here.
• "The Company" = Getty Images.
• "Parent": Abe Investment, L.P. (*)

Excerpt from Entry into a material definitive agreement:

The Merger Agreement contains restrictions on the Company´s ability to solicit third party proposals or provide information to, or participate in discussions or negotiations with, third parties regarding competing proposals.

These restrictions are not applicable until April 4, 2008, however, with respect to a certain party with whom the Company has previously engaged in discussions with respect to a proposal.

Deutsche Bank Equity Research on Getty Images

In a short research note published yesterday, Deutsche Bank Equity Research reports -- very likely for the last time like the analysts of Kaufmann Bros. and Robert W. Baird -- on Getty Images:

 

Getty Images {Closing Price: USD 31.67, Target Price: USD 34.00, Recommendation: HOLD}.

• 39% Premium For Getty Images Purchase: Despite industry articles suggesting lackluster interest for the auction of Getty Images above $1.6bn just two weeks ago, private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (also known for privatizing DoubleClick and subsequently selling to Google 2yrs later) agreed to acquire Getty for $2.4bn (+debt), or $34/share in cash.

The $34 share price represents a 39% premium to the Friday closing price, which was much higher than our expectation of a $25 price tag.

QuickLinks For 2008-02-26

• Jonathan Klein spent some time with me this morning:
  We do want to focus on more long-term growth and we want to put more into our consumer offering and we think that music or footage or multimedia can grow faster. But we will still have the priority of stabilizing that traditional creative stills business, which showed some improvement in the fourth quarter sequentially but remains subject to those broader issues. [...]
  It was a competitive deal, and the proxy document that will come out in the next several weeks will have a lot of detail on that.
  Seattle-Post Intelligencer/John Cook, Q&A with Getty Images´Jonathan Klein.

Reuters Interview with Getty Images´CEO Jonathan Klein: "Overall systemic issues"

Reuters finally interviewed Jonathan Klein:

But a shift of advertising to the Internet and the growth of text-only paid-search advertisements led to a decline in volume for Getty´s rights-managed still pictures.
"The overall systemic issues around less print advertising, more online communication, and significant amount of spend on text-based search, which we hate because it does not have pictures, is not going to change because our ownership changes," Jonathan Klein said in an interview.
"But in the private environment we may be able to focus a little more on longer term growth", he said. "We´ll be able to continue to do what we´re doing without having the public glare every three months."