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Author Topic: SS IPO - It's Done  (Read 31247 times)

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w7lwi

  • Those that don't stand up to evil enable evil.
« on: May 14, 2012, 10:48 »
0
Jon announced this morning that SS has filed with the SEC intention to have an IPO.

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122922


tab62

« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2012, 10:53 »
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Really cannot compare IS to SS on being public since they have a total different business models. Thus I think sales will be about the same as before without any major changes...

« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2012, 11:15 »
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I'm not going to take much notice of this until the full details are revealed.  Would be nice if they gave some free shares to their contributors who have done a lot to build up their business.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2012, 11:34 by sharpshot »

« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2012, 11:24 »
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I think those of us without blinders, knew it was a given when the new board/key employees appeared and the IPO piece showed up in Reuters.

lagereek

« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2012, 11:44 »
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I wish them luck ofcourse and hope things wont change too drastically.

« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2012, 11:56 »
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Hopefully, this is a positive thing. I guess my conference call grumblings a few weeks ago to the Morgan Stanley guys didn't scare them off.  ;D

« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2012, 11:58 »
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I'm not going to take much notice of this until the full details are revealed.  Would be nice if they gave some free shares to their contributors who have done a lot to build up their business.

LOL

« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2012, 12:08 »
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I don't like this a bit.

Soon SS is taken over by a group of suits, people who sees stock only as a commodity. Then they are going to maximize their profits. This has "iStock disaster" written all over it.

:(

rubyroo

« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2012, 12:17 »
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Yes, I'm worried about that too.  I always loved that SS took an 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' approach.  Now we're in unchartered waters and I'm nervous.  Nothing we can do but wait and see. 

helix7

« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2012, 12:31 »
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I'm nervous but hopeful. At the very least, I figure we've got at least a year before investors will try to put any pressure on the company to show a return on their investment. Meaning there's still plenty of time before we would even begin to see any possible negative effect of this.

So in the meantime, it's just business as usual for me, with fingers crossed that SS never has to take anything away from us to make investors happy.

lisafx

« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2012, 12:40 »
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I wish them luck ofcourse and hope things wont change too drastically.

Yes, this sums up my feelings too. 

I share some of the concerns voiced here, but since there's absolutely nothing I can do about it either way, I guess I will just sit tight and hope for the best. 

« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2012, 13:16 »
0

I'm nervous but hopeful. At the very least, I figure we've got at least a year before investors will try to put any pressure on the company to show a return on their investment. Meaning there's still plenty of time before we would even begin to see any possible negative effect of this.

So in the meantime, it's just business as usual for me, with fingers crossed that SS never has to take anything away from us to make investors happy.

I'm not overly worried. If Jon was looking to maximise short-term return then he would have jumped on the same price-increase and lower-commission bandwagon that other greedy b@stards have done. By doing so he might have made far more from the IPO. He hasn't done that and appears content to grow his business by doing the right thing and benefiting from the mistakes of others. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm sure Jon must also have had innumerous offers to sell the entire business outright over the years but again has refused to do so.

Don't forget that whilst the shareholders might collectively own the business they don't get to run it in any meaningful way. Provided that the business continues to grow then they should be kept content.

I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.

traveler1116

« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2012, 13:23 »
0
I'm not overly worried. If Jon was looking to maximise short-term return then he would have jumped on the same price-increase and lower-commission bandwagon that other greedy b@stards have done. By doing so he might have made far more from the IPO. He hasn't done that and appears content to grow his business by doing the right thing and benefiting from the mistakes of others. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm sure Jon must also have had innumerous offers to sell the entire business outright over the years but again has refused to do so.

Don't forget that whilst the shareholders might collectively own the business they don't get to run it in any meaningful way. Provided that the business continues to grow then they should be kept content.

I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.
You know shutterstock pays out UP TO 38 cents on an XXXL image and 20-30% on single image sales already, say what you will about other sites but that's not exactly paying out high commissions is it?

wut

« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2012, 13:27 »
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I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.

I don't contribute to macro, but yet this concerns me. If that happens, we're just going to see further decreases in prices, there will be no one left to point their finger to saying look at the prices those agencies are putting next to images, our prices are a fu*king bargain, a steal.

lagereek

« Reply #14 on: May 14, 2012, 13:47 »
0

I'm nervous but hopeful. At the very least, I figure we've got at least a year before investors will try to put any pressure on the company to show a return on their investment. Meaning there's still plenty of time before we would even begin to see any possible negative effect of this.

So in the meantime, it's just business as usual for me, with fingers crossed that SS never has to take anything away from us to make investors happy.

I'm not overly worried. If Jon was looking to maximise short-term return then he would have jumped on the same price-increase and lower-commission bandwagon that other greedy b@stards have done. By doing so he might have made far more from the IPO. He hasn't done that and appears content to grow his business by doing the right thing and benefiting from the mistakes of others. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm sure Jon must also have had innumerous offers to sell the entire business outright over the years but again has refused to do so.

Don't forget that whilst the shareholders might collectively own the business they don't get to run it in any meaningful way. Provided that the business continues to grow then they should be kept content.

I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.

that was my initial thought as well but then, wait a second, inside the major 4 micro agencies are many, many Getty and Corbis photographers, hiding under all sorts of pseudos. I am not sure its even worth it? heck, I know its a big market but its hardly the Petrochemical-industries, is it.
As I can see it, the only way to even start to rival these outfits, well its the pricing policy yet again, isnt it. Package deals, lowering prices, this and that, in the end its nothing left at all for suppliers like us, I mean how many times can you split a buck.

« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2012, 14:00 »
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I hope it doesn't lead to something like what happened with IS. Hopefully it doesn't, but who knows.

I don't see SS lowering prices, the only places really lowering prices are the small sites trying to elbow in. I do however see lots of the big sites lowering commissions - that is my bigger worry. SS commissions for subs are hard to really know since nobody knows the actual number of sales (and how do you calculate extra sales that never get used but wouldn't be bought without a sub plan). SS commissions for on demand types of sales are pretty poor, especially at the bottom end of things. They aren't as poor as IS and FT, but that doesn't say much at all. If some company is going to expand to rival Getty I'd like to see a site with better commissions. Then again they don't have a long history of dropping commissions. Unfortunately the yearly raises of the past are also a distant memory.

« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2012, 14:16 »
0
I'm not overly worried. If Jon was looking to maximise short-term return then he would have jumped on the same price-increase and lower-commission bandwagon that other greedy b@stards have done. By doing so he might have made far more from the IPO. He hasn't done that and appears content to grow his business by doing the right thing and benefiting from the mistakes of others. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm sure Jon must also have had innumerous offers to sell the entire business outright over the years but again has refused to do so.

Don't forget that whilst the shareholders might collectively own the business they don't get to run it in any meaningful way. Provided that the business continues to grow then they should be kept content.

I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.
You know shutterstock pays out UP TO 38 cents on an XXXL image and 20-30% on single image sales already, say what you will about other sites but that's not exactly paying out high commissions is it?

sub from 71.4% to 132.4%
od from 18.4% to 31.6%
el from 27.8% to 40.5%

is iStock paying more?  ::)


« Reply #17 on: May 14, 2012, 14:24 »
0

I'm nervous but hopeful. At the very least, I figure we've got at least a year before investors will try to put any pressure on the company to show a return on their investment. Meaning there's still plenty of time before we would even begin to see any possible negative effect of this.

So in the meantime, it's just business as usual for me, with fingers crossed that SS never has to take anything away from us to make investors happy.

I'm not overly worried. If Jon was looking to maximise short-term return then he would have jumped on the same price-increase and lower-commission bandwagon that other greedy b@stards have done. By doing so he might have made far more from the IPO. He hasn't done that and appears content to grow his business by doing the right thing and benefiting from the mistakes of others. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm sure Jon must also have had innumerous offers to sell the entire business outright over the years but again has refused to do so.

Don't forget that whilst the shareholders might collectively own the business they don't get to run it in any meaningful way. Provided that the business continues to grow then they should be kept content.

I think the ultimate objective of this move is to grow an image empire to rival or beat the traditional agencies such as Getty and Corbis both of which have been painfully slow to adapt to the threats of new technology and the interweb.

that was my initial thought as well but then, wait a second, inside the major 4 micro agencies are many, many Getty and Corbis photographers, hiding under all sorts of pseudos. I am not sure its even worth it? heck, I know its a big market but its hardly the Petrochemical-industries, is it.
As I can see it, the only way to even start to rival these outfits, well its the pricing policy yet again, isnt it. Package deals, lowering prices, this and that, in the end its nothing left at all for suppliers like us, I mean how many times can you split a buck.

That is it exactly, SS was successful because it maintained low prices and overhead. In the last year we have seen a change in that overhead policy and the type of people SS is bringing into the company. Check out the stock options the new CFO was pulling in before SS brought him on board. And then there is the timing of the new search engine changes.

There are just so many unknown variables that "we can only guess". I hope that the greed bug has not overtaken SS at the cost of its contributors.

There have been no raises since 2008... companies like to go public in years where they have good revenue... especially if they know those revenues will not last. Timing an IPO at the peak of revenues can boost perceived value long enough to sell the company and get out before the downsides become visible.

The prospectus will be interesting and until we have more information we can only make haphazard guesses at the reasons SS is choosing to go public. Hopefully SS did not use vulture capitalist to grow, because venture capitalists have been known to use IPOs to cash in on successful companies that they helped start-up. IPO also may be used by founding individuals as an exit strategy.

A best case scenario would be that SS is looking to further the growth of the company and they are using the IPO as a way to generate the cheaper capital needed to expand. The upside is that IPO's can also generate publicity by making the company known to new groups of potential customers.

I guess we could take a look at the track records of the board members and key new employees for a clues into where SS may be headed.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2012, 14:26 by gbalex »

WarrenPrice

« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2012, 14:27 »
0
"Greed is good." Gordon Gekko.

 8)

traveler1116

« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2012, 14:29 »
0
sub from 71.4% to 132.4%
od from 18.4% to 31.6%
el from 27.8% to 40.5%

is iStock paying more?  ::)
For me it is, PP sub sales are about 11% higher than at SS per sale (I didn't check sub plan pricing but I think they are about the same so IS would be paying a higher %).  On Demand sales are probably on average about 25%, while single image OD are 20% which is the same or lower than a base level exclusive.  And ELs (I doubt too many people buy the 25 EL packs) are probably closer to 30% on average which is the same or less than the majority of exclusives.  The point was that SS is not giving really high commissions.  In fact if your issue with IS is that they give too low commissions it would make more sense to be exclusive since SS gives lower commissions than they do.

But back on topic, my guess is SS will raise prices and keep commissions the same.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2012, 14:32 by traveler1116 »

« Reply #20 on: May 14, 2012, 14:37 »
0
sub from 71.4% to 132.4%
od from 18.4% to 31.6%
el from 27.8% to 40.5%

is iStock paying more?  ::)
For me it is, PP sub sales are about 11% higher than at SS per sale (I didn't check sub plan pricing but I think they are about the same so IS would be paying a higher %).  On Demand sales are probably on average about 25%, while single image OD are 20% which is the same or lower than a base level exclusive.  And ELs (I doubt too many people buy the 25 EL packs) are probably closer to 30% on average which is the same or less than the majority of exclusives.  The point was that SS is not giving really high commissions.  In fact if your issue with IS is that they give too low commissions it would make more sense to be exclusive since SS gives lower commissions than they do.

But back on topic, my guess is SS will raise prices and keep commissions the same.

But don't forget that IS's stated goal is 20% and at least so far SS hasn't said that.

wut

« Reply #21 on: May 14, 2012, 14:38 »
0
But back on topic, my guess is SS will raise prices and keep commissions the same.

If they'll keep the commission % the same, they'll become the absolute #1, loved by every single indie ;)

traveler1116

« Reply #22 on: May 14, 2012, 14:39 »
0
But don't forget that IS's stated goal is 20% and at least so far SS hasn't said that.
Link please?
« Last Edit: May 14, 2012, 15:06 by traveler1116 »

« Reply #23 on: May 14, 2012, 14:40 »
0
I don't like this a bit.

Soon SS is taken over by a group of suits, people who sees stock only as a commodity. Then they are going to maximize their profits. This has "iStock disaster" written all over it.

:(

Inevitable. 

« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2012, 14:40 »
0
But don't forget that IS's stated goal is 20% and at least so far SS hasn't said that.

SS's goal is 25%.  ;D


 

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