Prosthetic Device

If you derive income from stock photography at any level, you should be interested in the purchase of Getty Images by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm.

The purchase is not included on Hellman & Friedman’s recent investments web page, although the purchase was agreed to last month. The transaction is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year, after shareholder approval. A news release on the Hellman & Friedman website provides details.

An article by Joseph Weisenthal at PaidContent tracks the history of Getty’s sale, initiated by Getty management in response to declining share price.

The most savory tidbit to me was the last paragraph that describes a changing business model:

In 2007, Creative Stills, the company’s biggest business line, accounted for $461 million, or 51 percent of Getty’s total revenue. By 2012, this line was expected to shrink to $348 million, just 29 percent of the total. Conversely the iStockPhoto business, currently just 14 percent of total revenues, is expected to account for 22 percent. B2B music, a very small slice of the pie at $14 million in 2007 is expected to more than triple to $46 million by 2012. Note that Getty’s smaller rival Jupitermedia (NSDQ: JUPM) has been pushing the music side of their business hard with multiple acquisitions.

(Links from original omitted.)

What this means for day-to-day operation, especially to photographers who have contributed their work for representation by Getty, is unclear.