| To: John Wilson who wrote (19) | 2/9/1999 7:53:00 PM | | From: Mosko | | | |
What Lawsuit? Here are earnings!! :
Related QuotesGETY
19
-1/8
delayed 20 mins - disclaimerTuesday February 9, 8:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Getty Images, Inc.
Getty Images Reports E-Commerce Success In 1998
LONDON, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, Inc. (Nasdaq: GETY - news), the leading international provider of visual content, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended December 31, 1998. Sales for the quarter increased by 96 percent over the fourth quarter of 1997 to $50.1 million and reported earnings before interest, taxes, exchange gains/losses, depreciation and amortization (''EBITDA'') increased by 191 percent to $10.6 million. Sales in 1998 increased by 84 percent to $185.1 million (1997: $100.8 million) and EBITDA increased by 83 percent to $35.4 million (1997: $19.3 million).
Electronic commerce sales, in the quarter, reached more than 15 percent of total sales. Digital sales (including CD-ROM sales) in the quarter were $18 million, representing 36 percent of total sales. Digital sales for the year were $59 million, representing 32 percent of total sales.
In the fourth quarter, Getty's largest brands, PhotoDisc and Tony Stone Images, performed well and showed particular strength in electronic commerce. The electronic commerce sales of PhotoDisc, acquired in February 1998, increased by 92 percent in the fourth quarter over the equivalent quarter of 1997 and e-commerce sales accounted for 47 percent of total sales in North America. Full electronic commerce for Tony Stone Images, launched in the fourth quarter, exceeded the company's expectations with 25 percent of sales on the web generated by new customers in the quarter.
''1998 has been our most successful year to date, both financially and strategically. We made rapid progress in all areas, in particular through the introduction of full e-commerce for our products,'' said Mark Getty, Chairman of Getty Images. ''We now have achieved our first objective: we are the largest provider in our industry through the successful implementation of our consolidation strategy. We are also well on the way to achieving our second major objective: electronic commerce enabling our products. We are also finalizing our plans for the next stage of our strategic development: providing a hub web site for our customers as a first step toward a complete desktop working environment for the global creative market,'' Getty added.
''We are delighted with our commercial success during 1998, particularly with the significant contribution to our record sales made by our e-commerce products,'' said Jonathan Klein, Getty's Chief Executive Officer. ''Our sales growth throughout the year reflects our ability, in our expanding industry, to offer our customers winning solutions. Improved operating efficiencies have led to improvements in our margins throughout the year. We aim to drive sales and internal efficiencies through providing more and better hassle-free web solutions and creating new web-based products and services,'' Klein added.
Financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 1998
-- Getty's reported sales increased by 96 percent to a record
$50.1 million in the fourth quarter of 1998.
-- In the fourth quarter, more than 15 percent of total sales were
e-commerce sales.
-- E-commerce sales at PhotoDisc increased by 92 percent over the fourth
quarter of 1997 and represented 37 percent of total sales for that
brand. In January 1999 PhotoDisc's e-commerce sales represented
40 percent of total sales. In the fourth quarter, new customers
accounted for 25 percent of e-commerce sales at Tony Stone Images.
-- Gross margin for the quarter improved to 72.5 percent from
63.8 percent of sales in the fourth quarter of 1997 and from
72.3 percent in the third quarter of 1998.
-- Selling, general and administrative expenses were $25.7 million,
representing 51.3 percent of sales, compared with 52.4 percent for the
third quarter of 1998.
-- EBITDA for the quarter increased by 191 percent to $10.6 million,
compared with $5.3 million in the fourth quarter of 1997.
-- The EBITDA margin improved to 21.2 percent, up from 19.9 percent in
the third quarter of 1998.
Financial results for the year ended December 31, 1998
-- Reported sales increased by 84 percent to $185 million for the year,
compared with $101 million in 1997.
-- Gross margin for the year improved to 71.5 percent from 62.8 percent
of sales in 1997.
-- EBITDA for the year increased by 83 percent to a record $35.4 million
compared with $19.3 million in 1997.
-- The EBITDA margin was 19.1 percent. The EBITDA margin of PhotoDisc
has improved by more than 10 percentage points over the prior year.
During the period, electronic commerce sales for PhotoDisc, as a
percentage of total sales, have grown from 19 percent to 35 percent.
Getty believes that it is possible for the company as a whole, over
the medium term, to reflect the margins achieved at PhotoDisc.
Operational highlights
-- Getty's biggest brand, Tony Stone Images, launched full e-commerce in
October 1998 and has exceeded the company's expectations. Over five
percent of Tony Stone Images' North American sales were generated
online by the end of December 1998 and, of these, 25 percent were new
customers. This initial success for Tony Stone Images continued into
January 1999 when e-commerce sales in North America represented over
10 percent of total sales. Sales on www.tonystone.com, in January
1999 alone, equaled total e-commerce sales for Tony Stone Images in
the whole of the fourth quarter of 1998. Getty believes that these
results validate the company's strategy to grow the market for imagery
significantly through electronic commerce.
-- It is Getty's view that the growth in e-commerce sales at
www.photodisc.com illustrates the willingness of the creative market
to purchase imagery online. PhotoDisc's e-commerce sales for the full
year increased by 156 percent, over 1997, to $20 million. In October
1998 alone, $2.3 million was generated on www.photodisc.com. Getty
has invested for future growth in this brand with the launch, this
month, of the new PhotoDisc web site. The new web site will contain
greater functionality and improvements in customer service, including
the addition of account self-maintenance and monitoring abilities.
-- Getty's Preview service, which allows customers to use in house
expertise in searching for imagery while utilizing the company's
online delivery of selections and orders, continues to prove popular
among Tony Stone Images' customers. Getty believes that the service
is effective at ensuring that specialist image requests can be met
digitally and that the service can help to alleviate customer deadline
pressure. In addition, Getty believes that the service provides an
excellent training ground for full e-commerce usage amongst all
customer sectors. Due to its success, the company has extended the
service to include its expansive historical collection, Hulton Getty.
-- During the year Getty's sports photography brand, Allsport, increased
its emphasis on the benefits of digital technology to customers. With
a customer base that includes most of the world's media, Allsport
maintains a strong commitment to product quality and speed of
delivery. Utilizing the latest in digital cameras, Allsport ensures
that time-sensitive and technically suitable imagery can be downloaded
from its web site within minutes of newsworthy sporting events.
Allsport sales growth in the year exceeded the company's expectations.
-- In the fourth quarter of 1998, Getty acquired Sporting Pix, a leading
sports picture agency based in Melbourne. Getty believes that the
acquisition helps to build the company's base in Australia ahead of
the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, especially as Allsport is the official
photographer of the International Olympic Committee and of the US
Olympic Committee. Sporting Pix adds another key office to Getty's
network of wholly owned outlets in 14 major markets and agents in 54
countries. The network supplements Getty's digital distribution
network via the Internet and provides the company with extensive
customer intelligence.
-- During 1999 Getty intends to extend its electronic commerce offering
to the company's customers. Encouraged by the rapid growth in digital
take-up and revenues on the company's existing web sites, during the
next twelve months Getty will invest in enhancing functionality and
valued added services. In addition, Getty will continue to e-commerce
enable relevant parts of the company's content in order to provide
imagery in a hassle-free web environment.
-- In the third quarter of 1999, Getty plans to enhance the separate
successes of existing web sites by providing the creative market with
a hub web site, with e-commerce capabilities, containing imagery from
some of its leading brands: Tony Stone Images, PhotoDisc, Allsport and
Hulton Getty. Getty believes that existing and new customers will be
eager to take advantage of this broad selection of high quality
imagery.
-- Integration of appropriate initiatives and divisions among brands was
a feature for Getty in 1998 and the company intends to continue this
strategy during the coming twelve months. Liaison and Hulton Getty
share offices and management in North America; Tony Stone Images has
extended its customer base to Liaison in 1998 and will provide the
same benefit to Energy Film Library in 1999; PhotoDisc built its
foothold in Australia through maximizing the opportunities provided by
Getty's expansion there for Allsport. Early indicators signal the
success for Getty's management and integration policy with strong
support for Liaison's Portraits catalog among Tony Stone Images'
customers as well as greatly improved margins at PhotoDisc.
Mosko |
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| To: Mosko who wrote (20) | 3/7/1999 2:40:00 PM | | From: Manish Aurora | | | |
I've built a spreadsheet for the stock and looks like it's cheap. I bought some at 19. But don't believe me, feel free to download it from my site.
Manish Aurora
www.rationalinvesting.com |
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| To: Billy Barooo who wrote () | 4/16/1999 2:09:00 PM | | From: REH | | | |
GETTY IMAGES SHAREHOLDER FILES FORM 144, TO SELL SHARES
WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 16, 1999 (States via COMTEX) -- Wade Torrance, shareholder, Getty Images, Inc. in Seattle, Wash., reported on March 24, 1999, the proposed sale of 50,000 shares on March 11, 1999, for $1, 100,000 through BancBoston Robertson Stephens.
GETTY IMAGES SHAREHOLDER FILES FORM 144, TO SELL SHARES
WASHINGTON, DC, Apr. 16, 1999 (States via COMTEX) -- PDI, LLC, shareholder, Getty Images, Inc. in Seattle, Wash., reported on Feb. 19, 1999, the proposed sale of 300,000 shares on Feb. 11, 1999, for $5,700, 000 through BancBoston Robertson Stephens. |
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| To: Billy Barooo who wrote () | 4/20/1999 8:06:00 PM | | From: REH | | | |
Getty Images Adds John C. Gonzalez to Business Development Team; Gonzalez's Significant Technology Business Development Experience to Help Drive Getty's Expansion into E-Commerce Space
PR Newswire, Tuesday, April 20, 1999 at 18:21
SEATTLE, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY), the
largest global visual content provider, today announced the addition of John
C. Gonzalez as Vice President of Strategic Relations. Gonzalez has 16 years
of experience in business development in the technology area, strategic
marketing and product management.
Gonzalez will be responsible for identifying, negotiating and integrating
co-operative business relationships with technology, content and marketing
partners. The company, which owns or controls more than 30 million images and
13,000 hours of film footage, entered the e-commerce space in early 1998 with
its acquisition of PhotoDisc, a pioneer in the digital delivery of imagery.
"John's impressive business development skills add great depth to our new
business team. His proven ability to identify and manage technology-based
opportunities and relationships will serve us well as we continue to migrate
our business to an e-commerce platform," said Jonathan D. Klein, Co-founder
and Chief Executive Officer of Getty Images.
Prior to joining Getty Images, Gonzalez served as Director of Business
Development for Extensis Corporation where he was responsible for the
identification, acquisition and integration of technology and business
opportunities, with a focus on the creative professional, pre-press and
printing industries.
From 1995 to 1997, Gonzalez was an independent business development
consultant, contracting with R.R. Donnelley, In Focus Systems, Health Care
Capital, Extensis Corporation and other technology companies. Gonzalez has
also worked with In Focus Systems, Inc., New Software, Inc., Sequent Computer
Systems, Inc., Saba Technologies, Inc. and Intel Corporation.
About Getty Images, Inc.
Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY), with 30 million photographs and more
than 13,000 hours of film, is the leading international provider of visual
content to a diverse range of professionals in advertising and graphic design,
magazine, book and newspaper publishing, broadcasting, production, and new
media publishing. Getty Images markets rights to images and footage through
its websites, its international network of wholly owned offices in 17
countries, and agents in more than 50 countries. The company has approximately
1,350 employees worldwide, and reported revenues of approximately $185 million
in 1998.
Getty Images strategy is to use electronic commerce to enhance its
services and extend its market, and this effort is well underway with three
successful business-to-business websites already available:
tonystone.com, photodisc.com and
allsport.com. The company plans to launch a hub website for all its
content brands as a first step towards a complete desktop working environment
for the global creative market.
The company's market leading visual content brands include: Tony Stone
Images, the world's leading contemporary stock photography brand; PhotoDisc,
the world leader in digital, royalty-free stock photography; Allsport, the
world leading sports photography brand; Hulton Getty (http://www.hulton-
getty.com), one of the largest privately owned collections of archival
photography in the world; Liaison Agency (http://www.liaisonphoto.com), a
leading North American news and reportage brand; and Energy Film Library
(http://www.digital-energy.com), one of the world's leading stock footage
brands. Further information is available from the Getty Images website at
getty-images.com.
SOURCE Getty Images, Inc.
-0- 04/20/99
/CONTACT: Laurie McEachron of Getty Images, Inc., 206-269-1769, or
laurie.mceachron@seattle.getty-images.com; or Madeline Hardart of Hill &
Knowlton, 212-885-0417, or mhardart@hillandknowlton.com/
/Web site: hill&knowlton.com/
/Web site: getty-images.com |
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| To: REH who wrote (23) | 4/23/1999 8:08:00 PM | | From: REH | | | |
Getty Images Named As One of Business 2.0's Top 20 'Hottest Companies On The Net'
PR Newswire, Friday, April 23, 1999 at 13:22
SEATTLE, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY) ranked
number 19 on the Business 2.0 list of the "100 Hottest Companies on the Net"
in the publication's May 1999 issue.
Business 2.0 cited the company's "long-term approach to return on
investment" as one of the factors that set it apart. Getty Images is joined
in the top 20 "best and brightest e-commerce companies" by market leaders Dell
Computer, America Online, Amazon.com, Yahoo, Charles Schwab, eBay, and E*Trade
Group.
"We are delighted to be recognized in such good company," said Jonathan D.
Klein, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Getty Images. "As the
leading global provider of imagery, we are committed to continuing to expand
our online business as a more efficient sales and distribution channel and as
a significant marketplace. As the marketplace becomes increasingly global and
technology becomes more accessible, imagery is becoming more prevalent online,
a trend that will only increase with the emerging broadband Internet."
At the end of March 1999, Getty Images had more than 90,000 registered web
customers on its tonystone.com and photodisc.com full
e-commerce web sites.
In compiling the list, Business 2.0 researched more than 600 candidate
companies and considered such factors as annual web revenue, purity of web
business and growth momentum.
About Getty Images
Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY), with 30 million photographs and more
than 13,000 hours of film, is the leading international provider of visual
content to a diverse range of professionals in advertising and graphic design,
magazine, book and newspaper publishing, broadcasting, production, and new
media publishing. Getty Images markets rights to images and footage through
its web sites, its international network of wholly owned offices in 17
countries, and agents in more than 50 countries. The company has
approximately 1,350 employees worldwide, and reported revenues of
approximately $185 million in 1998. Getty Images strategy is to use
electronic commerce to enhance its services and extend its market, and this
effort is well underway with three successful business-to-business web sites
already available: tonystone.com, photodisc.com and
allsport.com. The company plans to launch a hub web site for all
its content brands as a first step towards a complete desktop working
environment for the global creative market. The company's market leading
visual content brands include: Tony Stone Images, the world's leading
contemporary stock photography brand; PhotoDisc, the world leader in digital,
royalty-free stock photography; Allsport, the world leading sports photography
brand; Hulton Getty (http://www.hulton-getty.com), one of the largest
privately owned collections of archival photography in the world; Liaison
Agency (http://www.liaisonphoto.com), a leading North American news and
reportage brand; and Energy Film Library (http://www.digital-energy.com), one
of the world's leading stock footage brands. Further information is available
from the Getty Images web site at getty-images.com.
SOURCE Getty Images, Inc.
-0- 04/23/99
/CONTACT: Laurie McEachron of Getty Images, 206-269-1769, or
laurie.mceachron@seattle.getty-images.com; or Madeline Hardart of Hill &
Knowlton, 212-885-0417, or mhardart@hillandknowlton.com, for Getty Images/
/Web site: getty-images.com
|
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| To: REH who wrote (24) | 4/27/1999 11:07:00 AM | | From: REH | | | |
Getty Images' PhotoDisc Inks Deal With Amazon.Com; PhotoDisc to be Premier Photography Provider to Amazon.Com Cards
PR Newswire, Tuesday, April 27, 1999 at 09:25
SEATTLE, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- PhotoDisc, Inc., the leading
royalty-free stock photography brand of Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY),
announced today that it has signed an agreement with Amazon.com
(NASDAQ:AMZN), the Internet's leading book, video and music retailer, to be
the premier provider of contemporary royalty-free photography to Amazon's new
electronic greeting-card site -- Amazon.com Cards.
The new Cards section, accessible from navigation tabs on every page on
the site, features a wide range of images from PhotoDisc's 75,000-image
collection, along with graphics, animation and fine-art images from other
partners. Visitors to the site will be able to select, customize and send
electronic greeting cards, at no cost, to anyone with an email address.
Recipients of the cards will be able to view them on the Amazon.com site.
"We constantly look for ways to enhance the experience our eight million
shoppers have on the site," said Eric Broussard, General Manager of Amazon.com
Cards. "By working with content partners like PhotoDisc to build our new
Cards site, we can be confident that the quality and breadth of the imagery we
use is unmatched."
The agreement marks the first time that any of Getty's brands has made its
high-quality images accessible to a consumer audience. Getty Images sells
primarily to the creative professional market of advertisers, graphic
designers, publishers, and web and new media designers.
Jonathan Klein, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Getty Images,
said, "The increase in consumer use of the web offers a tremendous opportunity
for us to make our unrivaled imagery more accessible to people everywhere.
The collaboration with Amazon.com is a first step toward this broad audience."
"PhotoDisc is delighted to be the premier contemporary photography
provider for Amazon.com's new Cards site," added Sally von Bargen, PhotoDisc
president. "We look forward to working with this leading Internet company to
bring our images to millions of Amazon.com's visitors."
About Getty Images, Inc.
Getty Images, Inc., with 30 million photographs and more than 13,000 hours
of film, is the leading international provider of visual content to a diverse
range of professionals in advertising and graphic design, magazine, book and
newspaper publishing, broadcasting, production, and new media publishing.
Getty Images markets rights to images and footage through its web sites, its
international network of wholly owned offices in 17 countries, and agents in
more than 50 countries. The company has approximately 1,350 employees
worldwide, and reported revenues of approximately $185 million in 1998.
Getty Images' strategy is to use electronic commerce to enhance its
services and extend its market, and this effort is well underway with three
successful business-to-business web sites already available:
tonystone.com, photodisc.com and
allsport.com. The company plans to launch a hub web site for all
its content brands as a first step towards a complete desktop working
environment for the global creative market.
The company's market leading visual content brands include: Tony Stone
Images, the world's leading contemporary stock photography brand; PhotoDisc,
the world leader in digital, royalty-free stock photography; Allsport, the
world leading sports photography brand; Hulton Getty
(http://www.hulton-getty.com), one of the largest privately owned collections
of archival photography in the world; Liaison Agency
(http://www.liaisonphoto.com), a leading North American news and reportage
brand; and Energy Film Library (http://www.digital-energy.com), one of the
world's leading stock footage brands. Further information is available from
the Getty Images web site at getty-images.com.
SOURCE Getty Images, Inc.
-0- 04/27/99
/CONTACT: Mary Waters-Sayer, Investor Relations Manager, 44-171-544-2973,
or mary.waters.sayer@getty-images.com, or Laurie McEachron, 206-269-1769, or
laurie.mceachron@seattle.getty-images.com, Public Relations Director, both of
Getty Images; or Madeline Hardart of Hill & Knowlton, 212-885-0417, or
mhardart@hillandknowlton.com, for Getty Images/
/Web site: getty-images.com
/Web site: photodisc.com
heggenhougen.com
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| To: REH who wrote (25) | 4/27/1999 9:01:00 PM | | From: Eric P | | | |
GETY had a great day today, after the Amazon news. It broke out to a new 52 week high on increased volume. I bought a few shares late in the day and expect it to show further strength tomorrow.
Go GETY!
-Eric |
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| To: REH who wrote (25) | 5/5/1999 6:42:00 AM | | From: REH | | | |
Growing E-Commerce Sales Boost Getty Images' Strong First Quarter Results
PR Newswire, Wednesday, May 05, 1999 at 00:40
Increase in E-Commerce Sales Results in Significant Overall Revenue Growth
For Leading Global Visual Content Provider
SEATTLE, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Getty Images, Inc. (NASDAQ:GETY), a
leading global provider of visual content, today announced financial results
for the first quarter of 1999. Sales for the quarter increased by 38 percent
over the first quarter of 1998 to $52.2 million and reported EBITDA (earnings
before interest, taxes, exchange gains/(losses), depreciation, amortization,
non-recurring integration and restructuring costs, legal settlement and
extraordinary items) increased by 46 percent to $9.6 million.
Digital sales in the quarter, consisting of e-commerce and CD-ROM sales,
amounted to $20.1 million or 39 percent of sales, compared with 23 percent of
sales for the first quarter of 1998. E-commerce sales for the quarter
increased by more than 100 percent over the first quarter of 1998 to more than
$10.4 million. E-commerce sales as a percentage of total sales increased to
approximately 20 percent from approximately 10 percent in the first quarter of
1998.
Getty Images' first quarter success was fueled by its fully e-commerce
enabled web sites, which continue to drive sales and increase margins. The
www.photodisc.com site reported a nearly 80 percent increase in e-commerce
sales over the first quarter of 1998. Sales on the site represented
40 percent of total sales for the brand. E-commerce sales on the
www.tonystone.com site have increased approximately eightfold since the fourth
quarter of 1998 and accounted for 15 percent of total North American sales for
the brand in the first quarter of 1999. Registrations on the www.allsport.com
web site are up nearly 20 percent over the fourth quarter of 1998.
In April of this year, Getty Images made its imagery available to a
consumer audience for the first time as PhotoDisc became the premier provider
of contemporary royalty-free photography to Amazon.com's new electronic
greeting-card site. In a separate announcement today, the company announced
an agreement to acquire Art.com, a premier online destination for art. The
acquisition marks Getty Images' expansion into the growing online consumer
marketplace, a move that will significantly increase the company's potential
customer base.
The company's e-commerce achievements were recently recognized as it
ranked number 19 on the May issue of Business 2.0's "100 Hottest Companies on
the Net," joined in the top 20 by market leaders including Dell Computer,
America Online, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, Charles Schwab and eBay.
"With the expansion of our e-commerce business, we continue to strive to
create a more user-friendly experience for our customers and a more efficient
and cost-effective platform for getting our images to our customers," said
Mark Getty, co-founder and executive chairman. "As the next step in this
direction, we plan to launch a hub web site that will allow our customers to
search across all our creative collections in the second half of the year.
Furthermore, we intend to continue to build on our success in this area by
expanding and diversifying not only our e-commerce offerings, but also our
customer base."
"We are very pleased with the growth we have achieved in the first quarter
of this year, particularly the strong growth of our e-commerce sales," said
Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer. "With our brands, we
continue to create solutions that increase our market share and broaden our
potential customer base. With our corporate headquarters moving to Seattle
later this year, we will be better able to focus on developing our technology
resources and we will continue to make the investments in technology and in
marketing necessary to support our growing e-commerce operations."
Highlights of the first quarter 1999
-- Digital sales in the quarter, consisting of e-commerce and CD-ROM
sales, amounted to $20.1 million or 39 percent of sales, compared with
23 percent of sales in the first quarter of 1998. E-commerce sales for
the quarter increased by more than 100 percent over the first quarter
of 1998 to more than $10.4 million. Registered web customers on all
Getty Images full e-commerce web sites grew to more than 93,000.
E-commerce sales for all Getty brands doubled to approximately 20
percent of sales in the first quarter of 1999 from approximately 10
percent in the first quarter of 1998.
-- Getty Images' leading contemporary stock photography brand, Tony Stone
Images, increased sales for the first quarter of 1999 by more than 10
percent over the first quarter of 1998. Approximately 25 percent of
the sales on the www.tonystone.com web site were to new customers.
E-commerce sales for the brand continue to exceed expectations in both
North America and Europe. E-commerce sales in North America accounted
for 15 percent of the total North American sales for the quarter, while
UK e-commerce sales accounted for 6 percent of the brand's total UK
sales for the month of March 1999.
-- The average license price on the www.tonystone.com web site is closely
in line with the brand's average price in the analog model, which
demonstrates that e-commerce is also having no adverse impact on
pricing for our products.
-- Getty Images' leading digital, royalty-free imagery brand, PhotoDisc,
reported sales growth of more than 30 percent over the first quarter of
1998. Following the launch of a redesigned e-commerce web site
featuring enhanced functionality, PhotoDisc achieved an increase in
e-commerce sales of nearly 80 percent over the first quarter of 1998.
E-commerce sales accounted for 40 percent of total PhotoDisc sales,
with more than half of total North American sales and nearly 20 percent
of European sales on the web.
-- Allsport, the company's leading sports photography brand, ended the
quarter with more than 1,000 subscribers for its www.allsport.com web
site, and in addition to renewing its existing contracts, signed a
number of new contracts. Allsport has contracts with a number of
leading online businesses, including CBS Sportsline, America Online and
Compuserve.
-- In March, Getty Images announced the relocation of its corporate
headquarters to Seattle from London, based on the company's increasing
emphasis on e-commerce. The move will bring the company closer to the
majority of its customers and shareholders in the U.S.
-- PhotoDisc executed a reseller agreement with amana, the parent company
of Photonica, which gives access and product endorsement to amana's
more than 60,000 licensed stock customers in Japan.
-- Energy Film Library's sales increased more than 20 percent over the
fourth quarter of 1998, largely as a result of increased marketing and
outreach programs by the Los Angeles office.
-- Liaison Agency's press division delivered solid growth in the first
quarter, assisted by extensive news coverage of the Clinton impeachment
trial and the war in Kosovo.
-- Hulton Getty sales grew more than 20 percent in the UK in the first
quarter, partly due to an excellent performance at the Hulton Getty
Gallery.
Financial results for the first quarter 1999
-- Getty Images' reported sales increased by 38 percent to $52.2 million
in the first quarter of 1999, compared with $37.9 million in the first
quarter of 1998.
-- Gross margin for the first quarter improved to 73.5 percent of sales
from 69.4 percent in the first quarter of 1998 and 72.5 percent in the
fourth quarter of 1998. The increase was due to the continuing shift
to web sales and an increase of sales of wholly-owned content. The
increases also demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategies the
company has put into place to increase gross margins.
-- Selling, general and administrative expenses were $28.7 million,
representing 55.1 percent of sales compared with 52.1 percent in the
first quarter of 1998. The increase in SG&A was largely due to
continued and accelerated investment in marketing associated with the
launch of new web sites and increased investment in management, new
sales offices and new business systems.
-- EBITDA for the first quarter increased by 46 percent to $9.6 million,
compared to $6.6 million in the first quarter of 1998. On a pro forma
basis, EBITDA increased by $6.5 million or 210 percent over the first
quarter of 1998. EBITDA as a percentage of sales increased from 17.3
percent in the first quarter of 1998 to 18.4 percent. |
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| To: REH who wrote (22) | 5/5/1999 6:44:00 AM | | From: REH | | | |
Photography House Getty Images To Buy Art.com For About $200 Million
Dow Jones Online News, Wednesday, May 05, 1999 at 01:26
(Published on Tuesday, May 04, 1999 at 22:23)
By William M. Bulkeley, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Photography house Getty Images Inc. has agreed to buy Art.com for up
to $200 million, in a move aimed at creating a dominant online marketer
of artistic and photographic reproductions.
Getty, founded by the grandson of billionaire oil man J. Paul Getty,
has become one of the world's largest sellers of photographs through
purchases of photo repositories. It owns about 30 million images and
dispatches photographers around the world to take shots of current
events and images from professional baseball games to Kosovar refugees.
Closely held Art.com, based in Lake Forest, Ill., has been selling
prints of paintings and posters and framing them for online purchasers
for just a year. It typically doesn't own the rights to the works it
displays online, but acts as a sales intermediary.
Under the terms of an agreement expected to be announced today, Getty
Images will initially pay 4.5 million of its shares to Art.com, plus up
to $84 million in additional cash and stock, depending on operating
results and stock price over the next four months.
Getty founder Mark Getty said the company wants to build on the
"knowledge base" of Art.com to reach consumers and expand beyond its
traditional business buyers. Getty can print some of its photos to order
from its digital files, avoiding the expense of physical inventory. "We
have four million pictures of sports events and add 5,000 a week," Mr.
Getty says. "If I was 14, I'd have them all over my walls."
Mr. Getty, 37 years old, started Getty Images in 1995 and has since
bought a stock photo house, a historical archive, a photojournalism
company and PhotoDisc Inc., a provider of digitized royalty free photos.
Last year, Getty Images reported a net loss of $36.4 million on an 85%
sales increase to $185.1 million. Mr. Getty's family holds a 28% stake
in the company, which has been based in London but is moving to Seattle.
Started by William Lederer, a 37-year-old onetime money manager,
Art.com carries 100,000 prints that users can order online. It has sold
30,000 customers about $2 million worth of goods, and says it is now
growing more than 50% a month.
The deal with Getty provides a quick return for the three
venture-capital firms that invested $10 million for a 50% stake in
Art.com last November. They are Benchmark Capital, Palo Alto, Calif.;
Softbank Technology Ventures, San Jose; and Sandler Capital Management,
New York. Robert Kagle, a partner with Benchmark, said they contemplated
an initial public offering, but "we were all captured by the strategic
fit between Getty and the ability to print those images on demand and
offer a complete, framed work of art."
Getting the venture money was a key point in Art.com's development
because it allowed it to acquire its current Internet address for
$450,000 from its previous owner, Advanced Rotorcraft Technology, a
helicopter consulting firm. "Our order rate doubled," Mr. Lederer says.
A consumer visiting the Art.com site has the option of searching for
artworks by artist, key word or index. Offerings span the gamut from
Rembrandt to Rothko to H.A. Rey, the creator of "Curious George." Some
80% of sales are unframed art, but Mr. Lederer is looking to build
framed sales.
When buyers pick a print, they can choose a mat, using a palette of
50 choices, then a frame and glass or plexiglass. An 11-by-15-inch print
of Curious George goes for $10; adding a mat and metal frame brings the
total to $53.48. A larger, more elaborate, framed print of say, an
expressionist work can fetch $400 or more. Pamela Miller, a Southern
California writer, says she has started buying and sending unframed
Art.com prints to friends and relatives rather than greeting cards.
Mr. Lederer says the art-framing business is ripe for consolidation,
in part because "I'm a capitalist in a sea of communists. Very few
participants in the art industry are interested solely in making the
greatest amount of money, believe it or not."
Mark Getty's vision isn't unique. Microsoft Corp. Chairman William
Gates owns Corbis Corp., a Seattle company that has built a 25 million
photo collection that includes photos by Ansel Adams and of John F.
Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's casket. Corbis recently started
selling downloadable images to consumers. A small Cambridge, Mass.,
company, Barewalls.com competes with Art.com in the poster market,
although it doesn't provide framing.
Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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