01/10/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/10/2025 12:19
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Happy New Year everyone and thank you for joining the call today.
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As you probably read from my email, we announced some big news this morning.
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After months of thoughtful discussion and conversations with our board, we now have an agreement with Getty Images in what we think is a transformational merger that combines our complementary strengths and offerings to create a premier visual content company.
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We are bringing together two iconic brands to offer our customers a more diversified content library with greater depth and breadth, and an increased capacity to invest in growth, for example in innovative content, expanded event coverage, and customer-facing technologies and capabilities, such as search, 3D and generative AI.
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It also provides contributors greater opportunities to reach new customers around the world.
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So as you can see, I am excited about this merger and I believe it will make us both better - I want you to be excited about it too.
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But first a few things to understand about the process. We have signed an agreement, but there are additional steps remaining before we close the transaction.
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We will need to meet a number of closing conditions, such as shareholder approvals, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
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During this process, a small number of us will be discussing the specifics of the future combined organization with members of the Getty team.
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What we do know is that upon close, the newly combined company will be called Getty Images and the current CEO of Getty, Craig Peters, will become the CEO of the combined company. I will serve on the board of Getty Images and step down as CEO.
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We also know from Getty that they fully expect Shutterstock to continue as a brand and website based on the incredible brand equity built by all of you and all of those who have worked here. You should be proud of that.
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However, until the deal is closed - which is targeted in the second half of 2025, both companies will continue to operate independently and it will remain business as usual.
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In fact, we are full steam ahead on our 2025 plans and our expectations remain the same. It's important that you know that we are going to continue to invest in our business.
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Next week, we are welcoming our new Head of Marketplace, Matt Furlong - hopefully you read the announcement yesterday. He is very excited to join and I look forward to him and the team getting started together.
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We're going to continue to invest in Envato. We're going to continue to invest in GIPHY - and move forward on our integration plans.
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We're also going to move forward with our brand refresh that we have planned early this year.
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You should expect no change to what you are doing every day when you come to work. Just stay focused on your goals.
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Now I realize there will still be lots of questions.
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You're probably wondering "what does this mean for me?" Can we talk to anyone at Getty? Are our benefits going to change? Those are the right questions, and while I don't expect to have all the answers to your questions today, I expect to have a better picture of what our collective future looks like in the coming months. The bottom line remains that until the deal closes, it will be business as usual.
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But what I will commit to you is that we will communicate openly and honestly and tell you what we can tell you when we know it.
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We have developed a robust document with the information we currently have in the form of an FAQ. I encourage you to read through it.
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So let's stay focused. We have goals to grow our business in 2025 and that remains unchanged. It is very important that we continue to work hard, stay on track and not get distracted during this pre-close period. Our customers rely on us to deliver and we need to keep that promise.
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Now we are going to open it up to questions and answer what we can.
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