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Gary Shenk to succeed Steve Davis as CEO of Corbis
Corbis has announced plans to promote Gary Shenk, to the position of Chief Executive Officer as of July 1st of this year. Shenk will take over from Steve Davis who has held the CEO post for ten years. Davis, will remain on Corbis’s board of advisors, but will step down from day-to-day activities at the company to pursue opportunities in public service and philanthropy.
Shenk, 36, who has been with Corbis for four years, was named President of Corbis only five months ago. He takes the helm at a crucial moment in the company’s history. Founded by Bill Gates fifteen years ago to provide digital art-work for consumer use, the company built a massive archive of historical images, primarily through acquisitions. In recent years, the company has turned to the more lucrative business of commercial stock image licensing. Nonetheless, under Davis’s stewardship and while the company endured ever changing personnel at the upper managerial level, it never achieved profitability. The new CEO comes to the position under pressure to bring the company into the black.
Observers of the privately held company will recall it has mentioned plans to seek a “change in ownership,” a euphemism understood to mean going public. Managers have said they will consider other possible ownership arrangements. They have also said gates is in no hurry to divest himself of Corbis and remains committed to its success. Whatever the plans for selling the company, profitability remains the number one priority.
By all accounts, Shenk has helped to at least start the ship’s turn-around by emphasizing a more customer-focused strategy in both the commercial and editorial image licensing areas, building Corbis’s royalty free archives, and launching a successful rights services department. The company achieved 11% growth in gross revenue in 2006 to $251MM. Nevertheless, Shenk faces the challenge posed by micro-stock, an area Corbis has announced it will enter this year, but which many consider to have a deflating effect on the stock industry in general.
Click here to view a recent interview with Gary Shenk.
Posted in: News, Stock Photo Companies
