Getty Images To Sell For $2.4 Billion

 

NEW YORK, NY (February 23, 2008) - The board of directors of Getty Images has apparently okayed a deal to sell the company to the private equity firm of Hellman & Friedman for $2.4 billion including debt, The New York Times reported this morning.

“We are enthusiastic about entering the next phase of Getty Images’ evolution by partnering with Hellman & Friedman as we continue to provide innovative offerings to businesses and consumers in a very dynamic digital media environment,” Jonathan Klein, Getty’s cofounder and chief executive, said in a statement.

If approved by stockholders the sale could be completed by the end of this year's second quarter.

The sale price was based on a bid of $34 per share, the Times reports, a 55 percent premium over Getty's share price on January 18 (the day before they announced that they were considering selling the company). Getty Images closed at $24.45 on Friday. Hellman & Friedman's bid is 39 percent higher than Friday's closing price.

Founded in 1995 in Seattle, Getty Images grew by buying other visual media companies until they reached the size they are today, claiming 3.2 billion images in their archives and 4 million monthly visitors to their Web site. Getty reported $858 million in revenues for 2007.

Because they were late to the low-cost image licensing market, Getty's stock price has continued to decline over the last years.

Hellman & Friedman are partial investors in The Nielsen Company, owner of several media outlets and magazines including Photo District News. Industry analysts have said that Wall Street's scrutiny of Getty's stock price and business practices have made it more difficult for the company to work strategically, and that going private in the hands of an equity firm would improve the company's operations and efficiency and take them out from under the daily microscope of rising or falling stock prices.

Getty's statement on the sale says that Getty co-founder and chairman Mark Getty and Getty Investments have agreed to approve the sale and transfer their shares to the buyer.

 

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