PA Media Group acquires Alamy

[Iain Masterton]

I've been in touch with the NUJ and raised my concerns. They confirm that are also concerned and are discussing the matter.

[AlbertSnapper]

2 minutes ago, John Walker said:

It might mean the end of this forum?

😮  😭

 

....

 

As the PA shareholders contain several of the UK newspaper groups, maybe images will be supplied to them for less than peanuts to save those publications more money ?

 

I guess that if PA alienate too many contributors by cutting  commission/unfavourable contracts and start to lose the supply of fresh images, they can always sell the Alamy business again, and just keep the historical/archive images, or other bits that they want.

 

I'll just wait and see. If one door closes, then another door opens (usually !).

[geogphotos]

29 minutes ago, AlbertSnapper said:

😮  😭

 

....

 

As the PA shareholders contain several of the UK newspaper groups, maybe images will be supplied to them for less than peanuts to save those publications more money ?

 

I guess that if PA alienate too many contributors by cutting  commission/unfavourable contracts and start to lose the supply of fresh images, they can always sell the Alamy business again, and just keep the historical/archive images, or other bits that they want.

 

I'll just wait and see. If one door closes, then another door opens (usually !).

 

 

Yes that might happen but on the other hand they are running PA as a press agency supplying those very same newspapers at the moment. The editorial decisions of editors and picture researchers encompass all sources at the moment including competing news agencies. They don't just use PA images, and I don't assume that PA images are super cheap.

 

They are distinct company brands under the same umbrella. Sure, this is vertical integration but I don't think it seems like the start of some sort of monopoly for UK media publications all using only one source. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by geogphotos

[Sultanpepa]

50 minutes ago, John Walker said:

It might mean the end of this forum?

I suspect that might be the case. Especially if there's wholesale changes to be made to contracts.

[meanderingemu]

31 minutes ago, AlbertSnapper said:

😮  😭

 

....

 

As the PA shareholders contain several of the UK newspaper groups, maybe images will be supplied to them for less than peanuts to save those publications more money ?

 

I guess that if PA alienate too many contributors by cutting  commission/unfavourable contracts and start to lose the supply of fresh images, they can always sell the Alamy business again, and just keep the historical/archive images, or other bits that they want.

 

I'll just wait and see. If one door closes, then another door opens (usually !).

 

 

By definition it just got cheaper, since part of the fee should be getting back to them as shareholders.  

 

the first issue they have to address now is they have 2 competing arms providing, some with overlapping subjects. If you reduce the cost from one arm making it more attractive, and pushing buyers the Alamy way, this makes PA side less profitable.  

 

 

i have been in takeovers (different industry) where this has happened, and in the end the acquirer's existing model is the one that took a hit

[sb photos]

"The European Commission (EC) examines mergers of businesses with EU and global turnover above a certain size, including those that may have an impact in the UK. Mergers that have their main impact in the UK can be transferred to the CMA for examination, and some mergers that do not meet the EC’s thresholds may nonetheless be transferred to it by the merging businesses or the CMA."

 

I suspect the PA acquisition value was below the level where it may have been considered for investigation.

[Shergar]

The writing was on the wall back in 2017 when James made his first escape attempt and announced Andy Harding was the new CEO . That didn't work out and James found himself back  at the helm again. I guess he was wanting a new challenge and now he has the time and hopefully money to try something new. Who can blame him? I wish the guy good luck.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Shergar

[Shergar]

I would think a couple of these names are known to our UK photographers .

 

https://pamediagroup.com/board/

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Shergar

[Phil]

9 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Let's hope not. Closing the NYC office would be a big mistake IMO. The US is still by far the best market for images.

 

 

Yes - a concern is what does Alamy''s acquisition by PA mean for contributors and customers outside UK/Europe.

 

PA's website tells us that they have a business presence across 12 sites in the UK, Europe, Australia.   No mention of USA or North/South America.

So PA's and likely their corporate shareholder's businesses have had a definite UK/Euro focus .  

 

Alamy's on-line image licensing of course has no international physical boundaries. The NYC office was intended to expand & focus Alamy's US marketing/sales efforts with a physical presence in a US media hub.  Contributors took a commission reduction supposedly to fund it.  Did it help US licensing sales?   Not sure there is a way to find out - at least not that Alamy has shared.

 

The obvious hope is that PA will continue Alamy's NYC office. Even more optimistically PA could use Alamy's NYC office as a springboard to enhance and expand Alamy's sales efforts in  US/N & S American markets.  Question is will they do either or both?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Phil

[Shergar]

Alamy has told us before that the NYC office out performs the UK I believe.

[Doc]

18 minutes ago, Shergar said:

Alamy has told us before that the NYC office out performs the UK I believe.

I understand that to be true, and would hope that PA would want to build on that rather than shut the NYC office

 

Kumar

[Shergar]

7 minutes ago, Doc said:

I understand that to be true, and would hope that PA would want to build on that rather than shut the NYC office

 

Kumar

I think the NYC office operation is a perfect fit for PA . 

[riccarbi]

15 minutes ago, Doc said:

I understand that to be true, and would hope that PA would want to build on that rather than shut the NYC office

As many noted, PA is extremely oriented towards the UK market and media. I'm not totally sure they might be interested to expand their activities in the US.
There are two possibilities.
PA acquired Alamy to provide a larger and more diverse picture collection (PA images+Alamy) mainly to their UK clients (and shareholders). They are not much interested in the US market. They will possibly shut down the NY office, sooner or later.
PA acquired Alamy (also) with a view to expand their activities outside the UK. They will probably keep or even enlarge the US office.

Edited February 12, 2020 by riccarbi

[Johnnie5]

https://photoarchivenews.com/news/pa-media-group-acquires-alamy-the-global-stock-imagery-business/

[Shergar]

14 minutes ago, Johnnie5 said:

https://photoarchivenews.com/news/pa-media-group-acquires-alamy-the-global-stock-imagery-business/

Clive Marshall, "Chief Executive of PA Media Group said: “This transformational acquisition will significantly increase our customer base and provide the PA Media Group with a strong presence in the international market for the first time"

 

So far so good!

[Brian Humek]

On 11/02/2020 at 11:16, geogphotos said:

Yes we contributors have concerns but.....thinking about Alamy staff and hope that their jobs and future are secure.

 

It must be unsettling for them.

 

I am sure that we wish them all the best.

I'm with you in regard to Alamy employees. It seems that there will be some overlap of job positions and I always feel bad when mergers leave some employees without jobs. I've never had anything but pleasant experiences with CR employees, so I wish them the best. I also am hoping the best for contributors.  

[Marianne]

8 hours ago, imageplotter said:

 

Yes I do that, too. My comment was more regarding direct sales on the news side.

 
yes I also shoot for magazines & newspapers in the NY metro area & have had some success with local papers elsewhere when I’m visiting an area and know that I will be shooting an event of interest to local news editors. When I’m shooting on spec it’s stock rather than assignment work but really kind of a hybrid I guess. The point is to get my work distributed as widely as I can. I can do better contacting local US media than just putting my photos up as stock (or formerly with live news)  but Alamy has been a good source of licensing for many news photos in secondary markets. 

[Marianne]

2 hours ago, Shergar said:

Clive Marshall, "Chief Executive of PA Media Group said: “This transformational acquisition will significantly increase our customer base and provide the PA Media Group with a strong presence in the international market for the first time"

 

So far so good!

encouraging

[MizBrown]

9 hours ago, Inchiquin said:

I suppose one thing PA might consider doing is to spend Alamy's profits for the first year on hiring a few experienced editors to cull the Alamy collection.

 

Alan

 

One cheap way to do this would be to cut out the bottom 10% or 20% of contributors in terms of ratio of sales to photos in their portfolios.  Wouldn't require hiring anyone with skills at all, but would eliminate people who can produce niche images that occasionally have people looking for very specific local items.   I just had six zooms on a set of Nicaraguan sign language photos taken at a residence for deaf kids in Jinotega.  I'd kinda like to reshoot there with better lighting gear, but I think I've got the only photos of Nicaraguan sign language users on the site.  But perhaps that's not enough.   I understand this happens at another stock agency.

[Marianne]

56 minutes ago, Brian Humek said:

I'm with you in regard to Alamy employees. It seems that there will be some overlap of job positions and I always feel bad when mergers leave some employees without jobs. I've never had anything but pleasant experiences with CR employees, so I wish them the best. I also am hoping the best for contributors.  

Alamy employees have always been polite and prompt with their responses doing their best to help when questions or problems arise. I join you in wishing them well. 
 

I really hope they expand their presence in North America. More than half of my US book sales have been via Alamy & in addition to a few US advertising uses they’ve been my highest licenses here & some among the highest licenses anywhere. 
 

fingers crossed.  

[Richard Tadman]

1 hour ago, Brian Humek said:

I'm with you in regard to Alamy employees. It seems that there will be some overlap of job positions and I always feel bad when mergers leave some employees without jobs. I've never had anything but pleasant experiences with CR employees, so I wish them the best. I also am hoping the best for contributors.  

 

Surely the Alamy staff will be protected under the TUPE regulations?  This is specifically designed to protect staff transferring from one company to another and securing their rights and maintaining their contact terms.
https://www.tssa.org.uk/en/Your-union/your-workplace/employment-rights/tupe--a-guide-to-the-regulations.cfm

[Simon]

To any business person putting all of your "eggs in one basket" is not a good idea, although I've done it myself on several occasions. I hope the people that I've dealt with at Alamy are well looked after, they've all been highly supportive of me over the last few years from the live news team.  I've had a positive email from my contact, so lets see what happens. At the end of the day if you take a better picture than the other lot, then you live in hope it will sell .. Although on a weekly basis I'm still surprised on what sells vs what doesn't - the last example being my picture from yesterday, which didn't sell, I guess I'm biased based on the effort that went into getting the picture vs the quality and topicality.

[spacecadet]

9 hours ago, Inchiquin said:

I suppose one thing PA might consider doing is to spend Alamy's profits for the first year on hiring a few experienced editors to cull the Alamy collection.

 

Alan

I for one signed up on the basis of no editing for content and have invested countless hours on that basis. It would be a considerable breach of trust for Alamy to go back on that deal.

[AlexG]

Umm, so many thoughts running through my head. I joined Alamy over a year ago because of the appeal that I read about sales of reasonable price (albeit at lower volume). I don't do product photography or commercial subjects, and seeing how people need to have basically tens of thousands of images selling for cents on some of the other major stock sites was very off-putting for me.

My portfolio is small, and admittedly I am not a professional, so many of the images are generic and basic. Also, I am based in the US and Alamy sales seem to be generally much lower on this side of the Atlantic. I've had a single sale so far for $, quite a disappointing return. I had been hoping things would pick up.

 

Now, I really don't know what to make of the acquisition news. I am still trying to avoid contributing elsewhere enormous amount of photos for mere cents.

[Inchiquin]

18 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

 

I for one signed up on the basis of no editing for content and have invested countless hours on that basis. It would be a considerable breach of trust for Alamy to go back on that deal.

 

 

All bets are off after a takeover.

 

Alan