Getty's new $100m debt

[Hongover]

Getty probably has 200,000,000 photos so they really dont need more photographers or happy photographers, its the least of their concerns, they need sales, theyre losing ground

I partially agree with that. They have 200 Million images but at least 1/2 of them are outdated and more and becoming are becoming outdated as technology advances. Those 90's concept images don't sell well anymore and neither does images that contain outdated technology or their database of irrelevant photo of celebrities of yesteryear.

They do need images to keep an updated library, but they don't need that much. There's still an oversupply.

[Hongover]

yup more sales and less debt.
I don't know but this looks to me like planning for a bankruptcy
550 million in unsecured debt gets bumped up to top tier secured debt in exchange for cash.  Thats how I read it anyway

they should have bought Fotolia and maybe dreamstime/corbis. they use to buy everyone
before the debt.

Buying Corbis would probably kill them at this point. I'm glad they stopped buying. Buying up competition means they want to have a monopoly and that's never good for anyone.

[stockxfoto]

If i was getty (pre debt) i would have tried to buy dreamstime and fotolia and created an exclusive program for the group leaving contributors to choose shutterstock or the getty group.  to me anything is better than having only shutterstock growing fast and noone else except niche players.  Thats how Getty use to roll.  now they have there hands tied.
Well see what happens with adobe/fotolia and if shutterstock can maintain growth.
I would not like to see getty or Corbis keep shrinking as they are the two most likely to produce big sales.  Thats just me wishing macro and midstock a healthy life but yes we all know getty has a less than perfect history with contributors and its dominant past position.

the getty image creative search brings up like 10 million images - its never been much more than that even though they have a lot of images, video, and editorial. the actual creative search is around 10 million for me and that is up and growing.

[jodijacobson]

I was invited to Getty Headquarters a couple of weekends ago to meet the top execs! I was given lots of behind the scenes information. Bound by a confidentiality agreement, I cannot say anything more than this is GREAT for istock by Getty exclusive contributors.

[sharpshot]

For some reason, I thought of this.
https://youtu.be/KjmjqlOPd6A

[jodijacobson]

I stayed exclusive and it payed off for me. Can't talk about anyone else except myself. I am very happy to hear what is going on behind the scenes at Istock by Getty. It is happening now, not in the future. So no one is fooling anyone.

[ShadySue]

I stayed exclusive and it payed off for me. Can't talk about anyone else except myself. I am very happy to hear what is going on behind the scenes at Istock by Getty. It is happening now, not in the future. So no one is fooling anyone.

It's happening now?
Well, I'm happy for you, Jodi, but your experience isn't echoed by many other people (who have shared their experience), for sure including myself.
Last year it was Yuri saying, "Give me three months project managing at Getty" and many people felt a sharp decline in income after that.
We've also had vague promises, but nothing ever spelled out, by admin, with no improvement.
So forgive me if I don't hold my breath; even though I'll be relieved if you turn out to be right.

[U11]

I stayed exclusive and it payed off for me. Can't talk about anyone else except myself. I am very happy to hear what is going on behind the scenes at Istock by Getty. It is happening now, not in the future. So no one is fooling anyone.

googled your name  out of curiosity http://www.gettyimages.ca/search/photographer?family=creative&photographer=jodi%20jacobson&sort=best&excludenudity=true

[FlowerPower]

It worked so well the last time Getty was saddled with a huge debt.  Not for us but for the hedge fund that sold them to another hedge fund.  I really wouldn't want to be exclusive with all this going on.

Hedge fund H&F gutted Getty and sold out all of us, including Getty. Now the last hope is trying to bring back what was left dying. Exclusive is still the best way to work them.

I was invited to Getty Headquarters a couple of weekends ago to meet the top execs! I was given lots of behind the scenes information. Bound by a confidentiality agreement, I cannot say anything more than this is GREAT for istock by Getty exclusive contributors.

I know a guy who knows a guy who knows somebody who says he has inside information. BS alert on your nothing claim with nothing behind it. If you can't say anything why did you write this?

At this point I think the only thing they can do with that money that might make any difference would be to drastically increase contributor royalty rates and get photographers back in the game. Photographers word of mouth campaigns and happy contributors that are also buyers were their greatest asset at one time. Of course they didn't realize it then and there's no reason to believe they "get it" now either.

I like the way you think. Back up, bring back artists. They don't have to give away the agency, but bring back artists who care and pay them for their work. Goodwill is a non-profit, but it pays on the long term. Drastic increase isn't the answer. Fair pay would be good enough for most of us.

Not a particularly good sign for people counting on them. Their debt is holding them back almost as much as their repeated boneheaded moves. Or maybe it is the other way around.

IS certainly could have owned micro and midstock with a few more clever and less greedy moves.

Right, but read the latest news, they are so far in denial that they call iStock mid-stock and can't bring themselves to admit it's really Microstock. How can I trust somebody who isn't honest with theirself?

IS is a bomb ready to explode and blow itself into dust with denial and lies. They can't see that they are beiliving their own lies inside corporate. If they would face the truth and face us, there might be hope. Rebuild with a new attitude instead of the closed minded arrogant views. They are moving down and dying if they can't see that Getty and iStock are not leaking water, but are about to capsize and sink!

Raise artist confidence, fair wages for good work. Raise consumer confidence, stop the trickery and 28 different packages. The impossible is possible. Istock which was the top agency, could die from neglect and over confident attitudes.

Where's the Holy Roman empire? Where's the monarchy of France. Spain and Portugal ruled the seas. These are much bigger politics and civil control governments. And once iStock ruled Microstock but no longer. If they want to survive against competition, they need to make a giant attitude revision and marketing adjustment.

Otherwise we may be watching the sinking of the Titanic or Bismark. Unsinkable? Where's Blockbuster? Remember when IBM, Commodore, Atari and Zeinth made computers. Dbase, Polariod, Pan Am, Woolworth, Kodak, lived from the top and don't really matter or don't exist anymore.

Getty or iStock are on the verge of financial collapse the same as any of the above.

[hatman12]

I searched for all the details on this deal and in doing so came across a Moodys credit report that had a headline in September that Getty had warned of continuing deterioration in its mid-stock business.  Unfortunately I couldn't access the full report, but the headline suggests a further warning of reduced or stagnant revenues.

It seems to me that Carlyle has abandoned Getty as a viable investment.  They have billions under their control, and usually if a business has a temporary hiccup and needs extra cash, the major shareholder will contribute further equity.  Indeed, this was the recommendation of Moodys, but it's clear that Carlyle didn't want to, so it forced Getty to raise cash in the junk bond market.  The fact that Carlyle didn't come to the rescue speaks volumes.  They've passed the buck onto investors who are prepared to consider higher risk investments.  And the higher risk is compensated somewhat by the high 10% coupon.

And what junk this is: it seems they had to come to an arrangement with existing bondholders to repay those bonds at only 65% of face value, hence the 'partial default' flagged by Moodys.  Those Bonds were actually trading at only 30c, so it's an improvement on market price, but still represents a loss of 35% on par.  They replaced those Bonds with a new issue, paying 10% interest and issued them at 95% of par.  Most extraordinary was the huge fee of 2.5% they had to pay the middleman to place those Bonds.  Make no mistake - this is a junk Bond issue.

If they have to go to such extraordinary lengths just to refinance a relatively small Bond, imagine what will happen when the $1.9 billion Bond expires in a few years.  That Bond is currently trading at only 60c on the Dollar, suggesting that the Bond market doubts that the Bond will ever be repaid at par.

Of course these fun and games can carry on for years and years.  Eventually it will come to a head, particularly if Getty/iStocks's gross revenue continues to deteriorate, but the climax is likely to be years away.

[Sean Locke Photography]

I was invited to Getty Headquarters a couple of weekends ago to meet the top execs! I was given lots of behind the scenes information. Bound by a confidentiality agreement, I cannot say anything more than this is GREAT for istock by Getty exclusive contributors.

I guess it's been about twelve months.  Welcome back! Lol

[PeterChigmaroff]

I like all the analysis but in the end all I have to do is look at my royalty report. It's like a fractal, same shape and character as the big picture.

[Microstockphoto]

jodijacobson, that sounds like they are desperate to keep exclusives on board and they used their oldest trick sticks and carrots, history teaches us lessons, learn from them

[Pauws99]

The exclusive model doesn't work any more unless you are exceptional too much competition out there

[Mantis]

jodijacobson, that sounds like they are desperate to keep exclusives on board and they used their oldest trick sticks and carrots, history teaches us lessons, learn from them

I was kind of thinking the same thing. Yuri came out with similar comments and it looks like he is losing that battle, or scarred from it anyway. I mean, how many exclusives get to keep playing on other micros and run their own site while being exclusive at Istock? That's probably the only thing saving him.  Or Getty is paying his a guaranteed rate and it is Getty who regrets the move...either way if exclusivity were a golden nugget for him I am sure we'd hear about it one way or another.

[Justanotherphotographer]

No I think that IStock by Getty is genuinely about to turn things around. I mean Jodi has been to the IStock by Getty offices recently so she has the inside scoop on what is going on at IStock by Getty and things are looking up at IStock by Getty. Can't wait to hear what is going on at IStock by Getty in clearly natural IStock by Getty prose and not through a mouth piece or IStock by Getty press release. IStock by Getty.

[PeterChigmaroff]

How many times has the phrase show me the money been used in our culture. I think it's quite appropriate here. I don't care how but show me the money and I'll be a believer, otherwise its just hot air.

[cobalt]

Make an announcement in plain English that everyone can understand.

Follow through on that announcement in a timely manner.

Don�t break the site.

Don�t break the site.

Increase sales.

Repeat.


Basic recipe for building up trust and a good reputation. It�s really not that difficult. If you can do it with friends and family, you can do it in business.

[Digital66]

No I think that IStock by Getty is genuinely about to turn things around. I mean Jodi has been to the IStock by Getty offices recently so she has the inside scoop on what is going on at IStock by Getty and things are looking up at IStock by Getty. Can't wait to hear what is going on at IStock by Getty in clearly natural IStock by Getty prose and not through a mouth piece or IStock by Getty press release. IStock by Getty.

Don't think so.  Jodi has always believed all the false promises made by iStock/Getty and blindly supported all their plans however bad they clearly were for us.  So...

[ShadySue]

No I think that IStock by Getty is genuinely about to turn things around. I mean Jodi has been to the IStock by Getty offices recently so she has the inside scoop on what is going on at IStock by Getty and things are looking up at IStock by Getty. Can't wait to hear what is going on at IStock by Getty in clearly natural IStock by Getty prose and not through a mouth piece or IStock by Getty press release. IStock by Getty.

Don't think so.  Jodi has always believed all the false promises made by iStock/Getty and blindly supported all their plans however bad they clearly were for us.  So...

While what you say is true, I don't think you understand satire.

[Digital66]

No I think that IStock by Getty is genuinely about to turn things around. I mean Jodi has been to the IStock by Getty offices recently so she has the inside scoop on what is going on at IStock by Getty and things are looking up at IStock by Getty. Can't wait to hear what is going on at IStock by Getty in clearly natural IStock by Getty prose and not through a mouth piece or IStock by Getty press release. IStock by Getty.

Don't think so.  Jodi has always believed all the false promises made by iStock/Getty and blindly supported all their plans however bad they clearly were for us.  So...

While what you say is true, I don't think you understand satire.

Oops! I just did it.  I'm slow today. 

[Digital66]

[...] I am very happy to hear what is going on behind the scenes at Istock by Getty. It is happening now, not in the future. So no one is fooling anyone.

You happy with the new carousel? Is that one of the wonders they were doing behind the scenes? You think that's great for exclusives?

[jjneff]

Happy?? ahh been there since 2006 as an exclusive and NOT HAPPY! New Carousel is a slap in the face. 6 dollar Getty dl's for 4k video is a kick in the pants!

[Mantis]

Happy?? ahh been there since 2006 as an exclusive and NOT HAPPY! New Carousel is a slap in the face. 6 dollar Getty dl's for 4k video is a kick in the pants!

Isn't Getty asking to be boxed out of the video industry by doing this? I have stopped uploading video there since May and I have to believe a lot of others have too. If you leave that would be another very obvious hint.  Would you keep all of your 4K content on IS if you left and enjoy $6?