Features
Interview with Gary Shenk the new president of Corbis
Corbis recently announced the promotion of Gary Shenk from SVP of Images to President of the company. In this new position, Shenk will take over some of the responsibilities Steve Davis has held in his role as CEO and President. Specifically, he will assume oversight of the company's marketing, sales and the creative resources businesses while continuing to direct Corbis' image licensing business including product management, strategic partnerships and photographer relations. To gain some insight into what's next for the worlds 2nd largest stock licensing company Chris Ferrone interviewed the new president as follows.
Chris Ferrone: Congratulations on the new post. As you can imagine, many observers of the industry are wondering; does this promotion imply that Corbis plans to go public soon?
Gary Shenk: Thanks. No, the two matters are totally unrelated. The company has been open about looking at various ownership situations but we have no immediate plans to do anything. This is about attacking the marketplace more aggressively. Having all of the market-facing departments of Corbis under one leadership team will allow for better focus and tighter execution. It’s also about succession planning. Every manager must think about who comes in to take their place to allow for a smooth transition, should they leave the company. Steve (Davis, CEO) has no plans to leave anytime soon, but he is thinking about a leadership structure that will allow the company to stay on course, should he ever decide to do so.
Chris Ferrone: Recently, both Getty and Jupiter have lagged behind in RF sales. How has Corbis fared in this segment, both in direct and channel sales? Does this affect their plans to beef up their RF collections?
Gary Shenk: RF has been a huge growth engine for Corbis. We have built the RF sector from what was predominantly an editorial business a few years ago. In past years, RF was not a big part of Corbis’ business. But this year, two thirds of the new images brought in on the creative side have been RF. And it has been a great year for RF at Corbis. We have led the market in growth overall, and RF has been a disproportional contributor to our high growth, and we expect it to be so going forward. Corbis hasn’t seen the same slow-down Getty and Jupiter have seen partly because Corbis is taking market share from those companies.
As for the channel sales, Corbis has historically ignored that part of the business, which was a mistake. We have recognized we need to change that over the last year and a half and have taken steps to improve the channel network. As a result, we’re already seeing significant growth in channel revenue.
Chris Ferrone: In the recent past Getty Corbis and Jupiter have made many noteworthy acquisitions but some have predicted this will not be the case in 2007. Is Corbis still actively looking to acquire stock photography companies next year?
Gary Shenk: We’re always looking. Everyone always seems to be for sale in this industry, at the right price. People constantly talk and Corbis does too, but we’ll only do things that fit our strategy. I agree, the number of transactions will be lower in 2007 than in recent years.
Chris Ferrone: In July 2005 Corbis acquired the DAM company eMotion and, in June 2006, announced the expansion of its media management services to Europe. How has this service affected your business? How are customers responding to this product offering?
Gary Shenk: Our Digital Asset Management business is still overwhelmingly focused on the US market. We want to get the model right before rolling out internationally. Though it’s exclusively a direct to corporate product, we believe it represents a big, largely unclaimed market for our industry. It also opens the opportunity for a dual pitch of images and media management.
Chris Ferrone: What's your take on the micro-stock phenomenon? Where, if at all, does micro-stock fit into Corbis' plans?
Gary Shenk: Looking at the industry over-all, micro-stock is a very small part of the business, but growing fast. Corbis has most of our business at the higher end of the market and as a result we haven’t felt a huge hit from micro. We know only a few of our customers also use micro-sites. Most of our customers want greater quality and rights protection than the micro sites are able to provide.
While I believe micro-stock will continue to grow I don’t believe it will evolve into a huge market anytime soon or have a cataclysmic effect on our industry. The “scary math” will apply to a certain low end of the customer base, but at the same time it potentially brings new customers into the market who have never bought pictures before. It’s also an interesting way to source photography -- a way to find the next great stock photographer and pull them up to higher price points. It becomes the “farm club” of the future.
Chris Ferrone: Steve Davis outlined plans early this year to build more RF content, beef up the rights clearance business and get into the mobile phone image market in Asia. Have you accomplished this satisfactorily? Is Corbis looking at building its collection of wholly-owned content? Do you view this as a strength or weakness?
Gary Shenk: With regard to RF, we have done what we set out to do. By end of year we will have added over 120,000 new RF images. Many of these are wholly-owned, but the wholly owned images still make up only a minority of the new content and we intend to keep it that way. The wholly-owned model is attractive for obvious reasons, but it also has risks. It doesn’t make sense to place all the production risk on the shoulders of the company.
The rights clearance business has been a big success. It continues to be the highest growth business and the most profitable part of the company. It accounts for under 10% of the business today but it is growing very fast.
It has been a tough year for content for mobile phones, not just at Corbis but across the entire industry. That business simply hasn’t grown as much as expected. Perhaps there was some irrational exuberance about this sector on the part of all companies involved. But it is still growing and Corbis has worldwide penetration in that sector.
Chris Ferrone: How do you position Corbis against the competition? What's Corbis' unique selling proposition?
Gary Shenk: We have the greatest assets of any company in the industry; every type of content for every type of client. We also have a global brand as recognized as Getty even though we’re only a third their size. We have a global distribution network, and we play across the spectrum for the higher end professional user. In addition, Corbis has an asset base that simply can’t be replicated, unlike our competitors’ assets, and those type of unique asset tend to go up in value over time rather than being commoditized.
Our challenge is taking those industry-leading assets and turning Corbis into a great financial success story. This year, the company has taken a huge swing toward profitability. The next five years will be the most exciting in terms of the financial story. This moment is exciting in terms of making the shift. Customers and photographers want Corbis to succeed. Clients, who want a better alternative to Getty, want Corbis to succeed. I see Corbis as a huge opportunity that’s waiting to happen.
Chris Ferrone: It is public knowledge that Corbis is owned by Bill Gates who has stated plans to retire from Microsoft. Does this have any implications for Corbis? Will he be more, or less involved with the company?
Gary Shenk: I met with Bill yesterday. He remains absolutely committed to Corbis. His personal involvement with the company will not change.
Click here to view the original press release.
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