The most World Press awards this year and not a buyer. Shows that photojournalism doesn’t pay. It is quite ironic that the company that has grown through so many purchase cannot sell itself. But then again, it never said it wanted to. Johnathan Klein and the official voices of Getty Images never confirmed the selling option, referring only to a search for strategic partnership.
One of my readers, who would much prefer to remain anonymous, brought up an interesting theory. The upper echelon of management at Getty wanted this to fail. The false real leak to the New York Time ( sorry, but I have a hard time believing they have a staffer investigating Getty Images day in day out) helped fuel the news to shareholders. The stock is low, thus we will try to grant you a nice offering by putting the giant on the block. It certainly helped bounced the stock a little bit, albeit not for too long. What next ? well if no one wants to buy the company, we will, says the management. It is called a MBO, and it allows to take the leaking company private. With this failed sale, the company is evaluated and the shareholders, depressed. The cost to purchase the company becomes affordable since everyone would love to get rid of its useless shares.
Klein and co. had a good ride on public money. It allowed them to pay for the start up cost and alleviate debts. If they sold, which I am positive they did, they even made a nice nest egg. But now, it is becoming a burden. Not only for the bad press it is generating, but also for the huge amount of paperwork that it requires to keep. Finally, it makes management difficult as you have to keep an eye on Wall Street every time you want to make a decision.
Time to get rid of the public’s money . Time to regain control of the ship and become bold and aggressive again. Time to close the book on the financial that are too embarrassingly visible and charge full speed ahead.
I find this theory interesting and , like many others in this industry, cannot wait to see the next step.