Meckler's Open Arms . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Report
Oct 20, 2006

In a public statement that underlines the new, highly competitive landscape at the top of the stock photography industry, Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler has opened his arms to Getty Images employees who are being terminated by their current employer.

Meckler published a blog entry on this date that called an apparent reduction in Getty Image's staff a "bonanza" for JupiterImages, which is Jupitermedia's stock division. He encouraged the terminated employees to send their resumes to JupiterImages.

"Our friends at Getty Images are terminating (as we hear it) ten percent of their workforce worldwide." Meckler wrote in his blog entitled Internet Media Commentary. "And thus the bonanza," he asserted.

"We have been inundated with resumes from a solid pool of Gettyites that have been, or are fearful of being, made redundant," Meckler wrote. "This is particularly true in Germany where we are growing rapidly and have a need for skilled image professionals."

In a short statement, Getty Images said: "On Wednesday, (Getty CEO) Jonathan Klein outlined to employees a strategy for growth going forward. There is a small reduction in headcount in some areas, and additional new hires and resources in others."

The statement concluded that Klein will discuss the changes during his quarterly conference call with industry analysts next week.

Rumors about a workforce reduction at Getty have circulated in recent weeks. They appeared to be in part based on comments by Klein, indicating that Getty is revamping its sales force in light of a recent decline in the number of royalty-free image sales made by Getty in North America.

Some of the decline could be coming from customers exploring new microstock web sites that license images for as little as one dollar. However, Getty also faces stiffer competition from both JupiterImages and Corbis, which may be a more significant factor.

JupiterImages has rapidly grown into the third largest stock distributor by following the same strategy Getty followed in mid-1990s. Both companies grew quickly by acquiring numerous existing distributors and merging those companies together. As a result, Jupiter now owns many royalty-free and subscription brands that could be cutting into Getty's royalty-free sales.

Similarly, Corbis may be hurting Getty in this market segment. The world's second-largest stock photo distributor recently created a royalty-free section on its web site and yesterday announced a new royalty-free promotional effort. The company also said that, during the first half of this year, it has acquired 90,643 royalty-free images, of which 16,364 are wholly-owned.

In contrast to Getty's experience this year, Corbis recently reported its royalty-free sales were up 22 percent during the first half of the year.

Getty will be reporting third quarter financial results Oct. 24. Klein often provides substantial information about developments at Getty during his conference call that follows the quarterly release.

The Getty Images web site is at: http://www.gettyimages.com.

For Alan Meckler's blog, click here.

JupiterImages is at: http://www.jupiterimages.com.

Corbis is at: http://www.corbis.com.