BREAKING NEWS: Corbis Images has announced its acquisition of Splash News for an ‘undisclosed amount’
Detail from the press release seen by PhotoArchiveNews.com today and held under embargo until 5.15pm:
Since its founding in 1990, Splash News is recognized worldwide as a leading source for exclusive, breaking entertainment news and continues to experience explosive growth as consumer demand for candid celebrity content increases. Splash has more than 3,000 active photographers worldwide in entertainment hubs throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Splash’s market-leading offering of candid celebrity photography complements Corbis’s extensive collection of exclusive portraiture, red carpet and archival entertainment content. Corbis will now provide the industry?s most robust solution for outlets demanding a full selection of entertainment offerings.
“With the addition of Splash, Corbis will provide our customers the most comprehensive, unique and differentiated offering in the high-growth entertainment sector — from candid celebrity to high-end portraiture to motion, said Gary Shenk, CEO of Corbis. “Splash photographers consistently capture the most significant celebrity stories around the globe, ahead of the competition. With Corbis’s global sales organisation and web platform, we look forward to aggressively expanding the reach of this high-quality offering to our customers worldwide.”
“We are thrilled to join Corbis and will continue to do what we do best, deliver the authentic, breaking content that connects the media with its audience. We look forward to providing Corbis’s customers real-time entertainment content to support their business growth and providing our global network of photographers the ability to expand beyond their current reach through Corbis’s global footprint” said Gary Morgan, CEO, Splash.
Splash owners told PhotoArchiveNews.com “More details and statements about the sale will be available on a special page the A message from Splash’s ownersSplash website by 5.30pm”
www.splashnews.com
www.corbisimages.com
UPDATE: 5.30
This was sent to all UK picture desks – A message from Splash’s owners:
Since 1990, Splash has surprised the news industry over and over. And here we go again.
We constantly defied our critics who said our little band of loyal and dedicated reporters and photographers could not hope to keep up with the big boys. And yet we did.
And now, we are about to enter an even bigger realm, and with the help of our new owners, we will be better equipped to excel yet again.
We are proud of what Splash achieved all on its own. But the next step demanded resources we simply didn’t have. We were courted by many companies with offers of help, of investment. Of those, Corbis was the clear winner.
Simply put, we make a great couple. We complement each other.
Corbis needs Splash content to fill a gap in their product, and Splash can plug into Corbis’ huge network of clients, global offices and superior technological expertise.
Corbis has a reputation for selling high-end archive, Splash has a reputation for selling breaking news. Together, we have a lot to offer without treading on each other’s toes.
Splash will remain a separate brand within Corbis Holdings, and much will go unchanged. Gary and myself will be at the helm. Our desk staff and middle management will all remain. We will still go about our business the way we always have. What made Splash attractive to Corbis was what we have, what we do, and how we do it. It makes little sense to alter that.
There will be some changes, but all in the interests of reaching our long held goals. Our aspirations will be easier to achieve now.
With Corbis behind us, Splash now has what it needs to grow quickly to become the premier agency in the world of entertainment news and leave our competition far behind.
A lot of people have helped Splash get to where it is today, and we would like to pay tribute to those. Staff, current and past, freelance contributors, our clients and our technology partners.
Splash will continue, and will prosper and grow. As Winston Churchill said: “This isn’t the end. This isn’t even the beginning of the end. However, it is the end of the beginning.”
Thank you
Kevin Smith and Gary Morgan
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