deals, acquisitions, Online Media

Getty Images Buys Jupitermedia’s Online Photo Biz for $96M

Gregory T. Huang 10/23/08

It’s one of the biggest acquisitions of the year in the Northwest. Getty Images, the Seattle-based creator and distributor of online photos and video, is buying New York-based Jupitermedia’s online images business. The acquisition of Jupiterimages is worth $96 million in cash, and will help Jupitermedia pay off its bank debt, according to a statement today.

This is at least the second bid that Getty has made to acquire its smaller rival; a proposed deal in early 2007 fell through. Meanwhile, 2008 has been a busy year for Getty. In February, the company announced it was being acquired by an affiliate of private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman. The $2.4 billion acquisition was completed in July.

Getty Images was founded in 1995, and was among the first companies to license images via the Web. As of 2006, Getty was an $800 million dollar public company with 21 offices worldwide. Today’s acquisition would seem to solidify the now-private firm’s position in the online stock-photo and multimedia marketplace.

Gregory T. Huang is the Editor of Xconomy Seattle. You can e-mail him at gthuang@xconomy.com or call 206-624-2249.