MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: Uncle Pete on February 19, 2022, 12:41

Title: IS Timeline
Post by: Uncle Pete on February 19, 2022, 12:41
Getty Images timeline

Excerpts from:
The Seattle Times, February 25, 2008
and other online sources


1993
Jonathan Klein and Mark Getty form Getty Investments in London

1995
March: Getty buys Tony Stone Images, a London stock agency

1996
April: Buys Hulton Deutsch, private collection of archival photography
May: Buys Fabulous Footage, provider of contemporary stock footage

1997
Sept.: Merges with PhotoDisk in Seattle and changes name to Getty Images

1999
Sept.: Buys Image Bank from Kodak for $183 million
May: Pays $135 million for Art.com, a consumer site offering posters and other art.

April 2003:
Getty Images entered into a partnership with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to market each other's images.

2004
Aug.: Buys image.net for $20 million
April: Acquires Digital Vision, estimated to be the world’s third-largest stock-photography company, for $165 million
June: Launches online store on Amazon.com

2006
Feb.: Buys iStockphoto, a micropayment site, for $50 million.
April: Buys Pixel Images of Ireland for $135 million in cash

2007
February: Getty Images acquired the Michael Ochs Archives - musician photography
March: Buys Scoopt, a Scottish company that specializes in citizen photojournalism
April: Buys its largest competitor, MediaVast, for $207 million
May: Buys Punchstock, a leading aggregator/distributor of stock photography

2009: Getty Images bought Jupiterimages, for $96 million (including the sites stock.xchng and StockXpert)

2019: Getty Images introduced Market Freeze, simplifying exclusivity of rights-managed images. Later that year, it announced that due to customers' needs changing, it plans to phase out rights-managed imagery by 2020 in favor of royalty-free images

Getty now manages Corbis's physical archives (and Veer) on behalf of Visual China Group and Unity Glory.

March 2021: Getty Images acquired Unsplash, a free-to-use stock photography website.

(https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.D9mq2mIxz0hAckfWj70qrwHaEc?w=291&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&pid=1.7)

Frank Norris would be proud to write a book about them.
Title: Re: IS Timeline
Post by: Just_to_inform_people2 on February 19, 2022, 16:04
Thanks for the history lane. Money always buys more money I guess, if you know what to buy. Unfortunately I am not able to buy something for a 100 million to get more out of my money :)
Title: Re: IS Timeline
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on February 19, 2022, 21:05
"2019: Getty Images introduced Market Freeze, simplifying exclusivity of rights-managed images. Later that year, it announced that due to customers' needs changing, it plans to phase out rights-managed imagery by 2020 in favor of royalty-free images"

2018: Getty wonders if stealing name and substance of "Market Freeze" from Stocksy will be noticed...
Title: Re: IS Timeline
Post by: Uncle Pete on February 20, 2022, 13:58
"2019: Getty Images introduced Market Freeze, simplifying exclusivity of rights-managed images. Later that year, it announced that due to customers' needs changing, it plans to phase out rights-managed imagery by 2020 in favor of royalty-free images"

2018: Getty wonders if stealing name and substance of "Market Freeze" from Stocksy will be noticed...

I never heard of the term until yesterday but thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks for the history lane. Money always buys more money I guess, if you know what to buy. Unfortunately I am not able to buy something for a 100 million to get more out of my money :)

I think that Getty made the right moves at the right time and saw the future market. What they have done, makes me wonder some days. And I mean the financial shenanigans as well as the ups and downs because they have been working at a deficit. But a world class collection, made up of some of the former biggest and best collections, seems to be a good plan.

I saw a short documentary about Getty images and their digitizing efforts. I admire their efforts for the preservation of images and bringing analog collections into the digital world. No I don't appreciate what they have done for modern artists and creatives, or people who work for income derived from iStock payments.

I am not thankful or happy for the 2¢ promised minimum or the 15% commissions. Even less pleased with the Connect sales for fractions of a cent.