They have to sell some assets to reduce debt at some point in the next couple of years.

Jim Pickerell says that there is a rumour that they may sell editorial.

Quote from: Hobostocker on February 26, 2015, 05:03

as i see it, the entire creative world is going to crumble due to the Internet and Digital and Globalization.
it will take 10-15 more years to create a new balance and a "new order" but the golden days will never ever come back.

You mean US and UK creative world, not the entire creative world? Because, for some of us the golden days have just started, thanks to globalization.

Thinking your golden days have just started in this business, is... kind of naive.   It's like those people reporting a 100% growing just because they sold two more images than the previous month 
Or are you telling us that you have recently started to make thousands of dollars a month?

I think the bonds look overpriced considering the debt to equity level.  I don't know how the Carlyle group will make a profit from their expensive purchase at 3.3B in 2012.

The company isn't going away as there are always bottom feeders that could shop the company for 2B or less and continue on.  The situation doesn't look good for contributors long term as a company in dire straights will cut even more to stay afloat.    Who will be the new owners? I don't think a spin off IPO will work in this market.

If Getty declared chapter 11

For those who haven't a clue what that means, according to Wikipedia:
"Chapter 11 is a chapter of Title 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most prominently used by corporate entities.
In contrast, Chapter 7 governs the process of a liquidation bankruptcy (although liquidation can go under this chapter), while Chapter 13 provides a reorganization process for the majority of private individuals."

Here's a longer write-up on Getty's situation. 

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.no/2015/02/getty-images-downward-spiral-approaches.html

Conclusion - it doesn't look good (for Getty)

I wonder if Yuri is reading his get out clause 

Filed with Messrs Stuffem & Runn

Dragojevic is still filming, I like his movies  . Serbia is still cheaper for living than Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, but not much. Greece, Portugal, Spain are wonderful if you like living on seaside.

That is a good article leaf, thank you for sharing.

I am still surprised that nobody on wallstreet saw through the getty smoke screen for so many years, it was such an obviously badly run place by people who have no clue how to grow a business themselves organically. Which is why they kept trying to buy places run by people more clever than they were, but unfortunatly then brought them down to their own level instead of learning from them. They even had to be taken off the stock market years ago, inspite of all the amazing opportunities the internet gave them.

Contributors have been accurately predicting what will happen for years now, which made fotolia and SS stronger because we didn�t wait until the getty house burned down. We just follow the money and work in a logical way.


This Titanic is crashing into an iceberg that has been painted red and yellow,has strong signal lights blinking madly and signal horns in all directions. And they have been moving straight ahead into it, right into the biggest source of pain they can find.

The only thing left to wonder about for 2015: what kind of mad, suicidal "exciting" new business plan and abrupt changes do they have coming this year,preferably in September, the main buying season? What kind of new dramatic drama are they planning to throw on their poor customers and contributors??

They love the drama and they love the pain. I guess somewhere, someone is making money will the ship burns.

My sympathies for the employees and hard working artists that are still tied to them. Going indie is really not easy, but at least you will have peace of mind and you will see growth again if you work hard.

The downside for iStock contributors is that we now get paid on a monthly basis instead of the option to cash out weekly. This means when Getty files for bankruptcy protection, and perhaps can't pay out to its contributors anymore, that we stand to lose a month's income rather than only a week's income. But most likely the one thing they would do in a Chapter 11 filing would be to continue to pay their contributors at least. If they can't at least do that then all contributors would pull their images and the doors would be closed completely. So most likely that won't happen. Or if they get bought out and taken over by another investment group then that group would most likely pick up paying off the contributors. The most dangerous thing that could happen would be for them to lose their only tangible assets, which are our photos. So perhaps we are not at such risk of not being paid. Time will tell I guess. If one month your PayPal account stops going Ka-Ching, then you know it's time to fasten your seat belts cause Kansas is going bye-bye.

The question is, if a couple of ordinary guys could see where this was going two and a half years ago, how could Carlyle with all their fancy experts and access to the books fail to notice it?

They were probably just assessing if the story is believable enough for the average naive investor. If SS and Fotolia weren�t this successful, nobody would notice.

Or Jonathan Klein is one hell of a salesman who can turn fog into gold and diamonds and they fell for it. A sale between buddies and all that...

It's quite amusing to go back less than 18 months and see Bunhill and Tickstock telling me that the evidence I cited of falling iStock sales was completely meaningless and I was reaching absurd conclusions:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/the-%27new%27-is/msg351483/#msg351483

Where have I said that you were reaching "absurd conclusions" ? If I have said that then I apologise unconditionally - not for being wrong, but for being rude. I am happy to be wrong in a guessing game but I am not here to be rude or impolite to people. The point I think I was making was that the data is incomplete. I still believe that the data was and is incomplete - and without context.

I am very curious about the motivations of the anonymous sources behind all of this reporting. I am struggling to understand why anyone on the inside of those meetings would be motivated to blab. The motivation for the leaking must surely be part of the story. Who benefits ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/business/dealbook/carlyles-3-founders-get-pay-packages-of-800-million.html

Not everyone is have a hard time.