Author Topic: iStock IPO (or actually Getty) (Read 17472 times)

antistock · « **Reply #50 on:** May 24, 2012, 00:22 »

Quote from: cclapper on May 23, 2012, 12:37

And see I believe exactly the opposite that you do. I'd trust SS way more than Getty. Based on my past experiences here in microstock, anyway.

of course as a photographer i trust SS 100 times more than the suits at Getty, but once it's a public stock they're forced to produce continous growth and maximize profits, in ANY way, or face their stock value becoming quickly worthless.

another option is the actual owners of SS just want to do a rich sell-out and retire, who knows, with the data in their hands they know much better than me and you where the microstock industry is actually heading, for instance growing sales and profits can mask the unsustainability of the whole biz in the long term but you need big amounts of real data to see this trend, it's impossible for us to judge.

from this scenario, it's unthinkable SS will keep its actual fair treatment of photographers, at the very least they will bring down royalties on par with Istock.

sharpshot · « **Reply #51 on:** May 24, 2012, 01:31 »

Hopefully SS has seen that cutting royalties makes microstock unsustainable for lots of contributors. It makes a lot of us slow down or stop our production and find other ways to make money. Did it make Getty more profitable? I remember their share price falling as they cut commissions. I think istock had a chance to become so big that their competitors would of been almost insignificant. All they had to do was raise commission percentages, so that going exclusive was the most profitable option for all of us. They did the opposite and now Shutterstock looks like a real problem for them.

Google and Apple pay their app developers 70% commission. It might not be the same as stock images but I think they understand that their business is much stronger with motivated people working for them. The stock sites need more high quality images and I don't see how they will get that in the future if they lose all the professionals and only keep the hobbyists.

gostwyck · « **Reply #52 on:** May 24, 2012, 03:40 »

Quote from: sharpshot on May 24, 2012, 01:31

Hopefully SS has seen that cutting royalties makes microstock unsustainable for lots of contributors. It makes a lot of us slow down or stop our production and find other ways to make money. Did it make Getty more profitable? I remember their share price falling as they cut commissions. I think istock had a chance to become so big that their competitors would of been almost insignificant. All they had to do was raise commission percentages, so that going exclusive was the most profitable option for all of us. They did the opposite and now Shutterstock looks like a real problem for them.

Google and Apple pay their app developers 70% commission. It might not be the same as stock images but I think they understand that their business is much stronger with motivated people working for them. The stock sites need more high quality images and I don't see how they will get that in the future if they lose all the professionals and only keep the hobbyists.

Exactly. SS have also hugely increased their R&D budget which is an obvious indicator that the long-term interests of the business are at the forefront of the management's considerations. If you are looking to make a quick buck and pretty the books up you don't do stuff like that.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #53 on:** May 24, 2012, 04:03 »

Quote from: antistock on May 23, 2012, 23:39

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 23, 2012, 13:25
It puts me in mind of a secondary school maths problem...

If a Facebook IPO is worth $100bn on Monday and $75bn on Friday.
And if a Getty IPO is worth $4bn on Monday
.... how much will Getty be worth by Friday?

it's not so linear and easy.
and i would be surprised if photo companies get much attention after a few months from the IPO.
it all depends on how they manage to grow sales, a substantial increase in every quarter can pretty much jump the share up 10-20% in a single day, a sharp decrease can do the same, see DELL yesterday falling down -18% after reporting slumping sales in laptops and desktops !

you don't need an Aladdin's lamp but if it was so easy to predict stock market we would be all millionaires now.

It was a joke, actually. But the underlying point was that you can't trust the valuation.

In addition, of course, a valuation of "up to" $4bn would not even conflict with a valuation of 10c. I have a house that is definitely worth "up to" £5 trillion, it's just unfortunate that if I sold it the bidding would probably stop at about £90,000.

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Author Topic: iStock IPO (or actually Getty) (Read 17472 times)

antistock

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