News
NY Times reporting Getty Images may be up for sale
The New York Times has reported today that Getty images has put itself up for sale, having hired the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to advise it on such a transaction. According to the article, the purchase price might reach $1.5BB, which comes in a less than two times projected revenue for 2007 of about $850MM and about twelve times projected net revenue of approximately $125MM an devalues the company at about $25 per share. The company’s stock closed at $21.94 on Friday, January 18.
The NY Times article cites unnamed sources and says that a spokesperson for the company in London declined to comment, referring to the news as a “rumor.” The article also says that private equity firms interested in the deal – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bail Capital – may find themselves unable to raise the capital for it in today’s tight credit markets.
The news begs the question, assuming a private equity firm bought the company, what would they do with it. And, perhaps more importantly, what does it mean for the stock photo industry as a whole that its leading company is on the block for what appears to be a nearly fire-sale price?
Click here to view the original NY Times article By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL J. de la MERCED.
Posted in: Getty Images, News, Photographers, Stock Photo Companies
