Category: Jupiter Media
Jupiterimages, a subsidiary of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), is considered by industry experts to be the world's 3rd largest stock licensing company with more than 10 million rights-managed and royalty-free images. The company is widely considered to be leading-the-pack in the subscription licensing model. In addition, Jupiterimages offers footage, flash animations, music, clipart, animations and greeting e-cards.
Key executives:
Alan M. Meckler - Chairman and CEO
Christopher S. Cardell - President and COO
James Alexander - SVP & General Manager of Jupiterimages
Rick Thompson - VP of Sales, North America, Jupiterimages
Maria Kessler - VP of Creative Business Affairs, Jupiterimages
Mark Nickerson - VP of Image Operations, Jupiterimages
News
Peoria TV station reports on Getty layoff of former Jupiter Images employees
Last week Jupitermedia Corporation (NASDAQ: JUPM) announced that it had finalized its sale to Getty Images for $96 million and this week Getty had taken steps to begin laying-off hundreds of employees including 100 workers from the Former Dynamic graphis office in Peoria Illinois as reported by local TV station WMBD/WYZZ. The story further states “All 400 worldwide employees from England to Australia will be laid off between April and September. One hundred of those employees are based in Peoria.”
News
Jupitermedia finalizes sale of Jupiterimages to Getty Images and changes name to WebMediaBrands
Last October, Jupitermedia Corporation (NASDAQ: JUPM) announced that it had reached a deal to sell its JupiterImages division for $96 million to Getty Images. The company has today announced that it has completed the sale. In connection with the Sale, Jupitermedia terminated its Credit Agreement with KeyBank National Association ("KeyBank") and applied approximately $82 million of the proceeds from the Sale to repay all outstanding indebtedness. Jupitermedia’s existing interest rate swap arrangement with KeyBank will remain outstanding.
Features
JupiterImages responds to allegations of shaving commissions in Europe
Recently Stefan Hartmann, a journalist with years of experience covering the stock photo industry, published an article entitled ”JupiterImages accused of shaving commissions in Europe” a piece that was excerpted from an original story published in the German trade publication Visuell. In this story the author highlighted the matter of Service Fees charged clients licensing rights-managed (RM) images from Jupiter’s German and French offices, and whether such fees have been legitimately charged over and above the license fees, resulting in unfairly reducing the commissions owed to the contributors. Since publishing this article on December 18 many readers have responded with follow-up comments including two comments from Jupiter management. In fairness to Jupiter, and to allow our readers a complete and unbiased view, we have published their original comments in their entirety and subsequent follow-up questions and answers from Jupiter Management.
News
JupiterImages accused of shaving commissions in Europe
[Excerpted from article by Stefan Hartmann, Visuell] The good old days of being able to charge clients administrative fees for image research and delivery on top of the reproduction charges are a thing of the past within the stock photo industry.But Jupiterimage has recently found a way to re-introduce this fee with all rights managed sales, albeit secretly.With this new variation it is not the clients but the contributing photographers and agencies that pay the fee.
Jupiter records a $22.6MM Loss for 3Q08
On the heels of the announcement of an agreement for Getty Images to purchase Jupiter Media’s image division, Jupiter announced its 3rd quarter 2008 results. The company saw total sales drop by 11% from $$34.8MM in the 3rd quarter of ‘07 to $31MM, this year. On an unusually brief conference call with analysts about the third quarter results, CEO Alan Meckler stated that the poor performance was due to wide-spread problems in the general economy. “...but we’re doing something about it,” he added, referring to the Getty deal. Beyond that, Meckler said he would have no comment about the proposed sale of Jupiter Images.
Editorials
Getty buys Jupiter for a song
Naturally, the buzz at the PACA International Conference in NYC this past week-end centered on the bomb that dropped on the industry last Thursday when Getty announced it had reached a deal to purchase Jupiter for $96MM. The most common question: What does it all mean? I see a number of angles from which to approach the subject.
News
Chris Cardell announces resignation as COO of Jupiter Media
Jupitermedia Corporation (JUPM) has announced that Christopher Cardell, the President and Chief Operating Officer, is resigning after 10 years with the organization. The announcement comes on the heels of an announcement to sell the its online image licensing business to Getty Images last week. Effective immediately, Alan Meckler, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, will also serve as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company.
News
JupiterMedia selling JupiterImages content licensing business to Getty for $96 million
Jupitermedia Corporation (JUPM) has announced that it has entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement to sell its Online Images business to Getty Images, Inc.(GYI) for the purchase price of $96 million in cash. Last year the companies had confirmed that they were exploring a sale with an asking price as high as $350 - $450 million, a far cry from the $96 million received in this transaction. The deal will allow Jupiter to pay off all of its bank debt, but the company expects to take a non-cash loss of about $95 million when the deal closes. “We believe that this transaction will be beneficial to Jupitermedia and its stockholders, both in the near term and the long run, as it will allow Jupitermedia to pay off all of its bank debt. Upon closing of the transaction, we will continue focus on the further development and growth of our Online Media division,” stated Alan Meckler Jupitermedia’s Chief Executive Officer.
Editorials
Tough summer for stock stock
No, that’s not a typo in the head-line. Managers of the two publicly-traded companies in the stock photo business, Jupitermedia and A21, will not look back on the summer of ‘08 fondly, at least not with respect to their stock prices. Jupiter’s stock price closed at $1.17 on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend – a slide of 30% from a close of $1.71 the Monday after Memorial Day. Over that same period, A21 Inc. hovered at literal penny stock status having floated between $0.01 and $0.03.
News
Jupiter Media reports 2nd quarter 2008 financials
Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM) has released the financial results for the 2nd quarter of 2008 completed on June 30, 2008. The company reported slightly higher revenues of $35 million for Q208, compared with $34.6 million last year, but still wound up in the red again with a net loss of $3.286 million. Compared to the previous year Jupiter is down $1.293 million and the previous quarter down $52.000. Shares closed yesterday at $1.30.
News
Forrester buys JupiterResearch for $23 million
Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) has announced that it has acquired Jupiter Research, LLC, and its parent company, JUPR Holdings, Inc., for $23 million in cash plus assumed liabilities from MCG Capital Corporation (Nasdaq: MCGC) who bought the business in Mar 06 for $10.1 million and merged it with its own Kagan Research LLC. Prior to the acquisition by MCG Capital JupiterResearch was a significant part of Alan Meckler’s Jupiter Media (NASDAQ:JUPM) who sold the research division in order to focus on its burgeoning image licensing business. Currently JupiterResearch has 82 employees and 2007 revenues of approximately $14 million compared to Forrester’s 2007 revenues of $212 million, and now more than 1,000 employees.
News
Jupiter 1Q08 results: revenue, margins decline
JupiterMedia released its results for the 1st quarter of 2008 showing a year-over-year decline in both actual revenue and profit margins. These came despite growth in the company’s high-end royalty-free subscription business, JupiterImages Unlimited, and its micro-stock business, StockXpert. According to the company, decreased revenue from JupiterImages’ distribution network and lower-than-anticipated job-board revenue from MediaBistro contributed to the disappointing numbers. Jupiter’s stock closed at $2.17 per share on Friday, May 9, about 26% of it’s 52-week high of $8.38.
News
JupiterMedia launches Clipart Connection subscription site
JupiterMedia CEO, Alan Meckler has announced on his blog that the company has launched a new subscription site for clip art images called Clip Art Connection. The new site, (the 12th subscription site for JupiterImages), features a collection of more than 1 million unique images with subscriptions as low as $4.95 per week. For customers who crave more content the company also operates a more robust Clipart.com subscription site featuring over 10 million images with subscriptions starting at $15.95 per week.
News
James Alexander joins Jupiterimages
Jupitermedia has announced the appointment of James Alexander to the position of Senior Vice President and General manager of Jupiterimages. Alexander comes to Jupiter from Adobe where he led the now discontinued Adobe Stock Photos (ASP) division. He will work at Jupiter’s head offices in Darien, Connecticut and will report directly to Jupitermedia President and COO, Chris Cardell.
News
Jupiter reports results for 2007, “transition year”
Jupiter Images released its 4Q and full year ’07 results showing moderate growth of 4%, quarter over quarter and 2% for the full year. Total sales for the 4th quarter reached $36.1MM and for the year, $140.3MM. During the management conference call to discuss the results, CEO Alan Meckler called 2007 a “transition year” stressing Jupiter’s moves to adapt its strategy to the changing digital content environment as well as its continuing development of businesses other than licensing images. The company also booked a non-cash impairment charge of $82.2 million related to the write-down of goodwill and intangible assets.
News
Jupiter Media acquires micro-payment music site eStockMusic.com
Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM) has announced that it has acquired the assets of eStockMusic.com. The purchase now allows Jupiter to offer lower-cost music for licensing in a micro-payment licensing model along with royalty-free digital images and footage on Stockxpert.com.
News
Jupitermedia´s microstock site Stockxpert.com now offering Footage
Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM) has announced that Stockxpert.com, a micropayment site competing with Getty’s iStockphoto, is now offering royalty-free footage. The site features both standard and high definition video as well as Flash video priced at $10 to $50 depending on the resolution required.
News
Jupiter appoints Ellen Herbert to post as Senior Director of Creative Content
Jupiterimages, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), has announced that photo industry veteran Ellen Herbert has been promoted to Senior Director, Creative Content. Ellen joined Jupiterimages in January of 2006 and previously led creative for the FoodPix brand. In this new role she will lead the West Coast office of Jupiterimages for content creation and photographer affiliations.
News
Beata Chelette to leave Corbis. Edie Tobias to take over Entertainment Division
Beate Chelette, the founder of the Beateworks, a boutique agency that specialized in architecture, interior design and celebrity homes, will leave the post she has held since Corbis bought her company in March, 2006. After the sale to Corbis, the company appointed Chelette to the position of Senior Director of Photography, Entertainment. Edie Tobias, a veteran of the stock photo industry who most recently worked for Jupiter Images, will take over for Chelette effective immediately.
EditorialsFeatures
The Year 2007 in Review
Looking back at 2007 in the stock photo industry, several interesting stories come to the fore. The year started with a bang when news leaked about a possible acquisition of Jupiter by Getty. That deal never happened, but several other high-profile acquisitions did take place last year, from Getty’s acquisitions of WireImage, Punchstock and Pump Audio to the purchase of Veer by Corbis. Jupiter took a break from the stock photo business buying spree of previous years but remained busy developing its events and on-line media segments which included the launch of several new trade shows and the acquisition of MediaBistro.
