Celebrity photo agency Backgrid has been sold to Shutterstock today.
Rebranded and re-energised last year –see our report– Backgrid now joins the Shutterstock editorial acquisition stable which includes Rex Features in 2015, Splash News in 2022. With this latest purchase it looks like Shutterstock really are determined to own the celebrity photo arena!
They say: “As one of the world’s largest entertainment news agencies for newsrooms and media companies, our acquisition of Backgrid further elevates Shutterstock’s position as the premier provider of best-in-class entertainment and editorial content,” said Aimee Egan, Chief Enterprise Officer at Shutterstock. “We are now able to give Backgrid and Shutterstock customers access to the combined power of our vast content libraries of editorial and archival content, adding significant value to our already extensive offering and unique concierge service.”
Backgrid say: “We are thrilled to embark on this new journey in the evolution of Shutterstock and Backgrid as it sets us up to expand our business in ways that were previously limited,” said Backgrid CEO Alex Kantif, in alignment with his fellow co founders Dan Taylor, Steven Ginsburg and Scott Cosman. “This acquisition opens up exciting opportunities for growth and innovation for our global network of photographers, customers and our employees, and we look forward to pursuing them together.”
Related news articles on PAN:
(May 1 2017) AKM-GSI, FameFlynet and Xposure complete launch of new celebrity photo agency Backgrid
(June 8 2023) Shutterstock launches editorial photography subscriptions
(May 14 2020) Shutterstock provides indemnification on editorial images for commercial use
(October 17 2018) Shutterstock opens editorial photo content to all
(December 12 2012) Alan Davidson 500K people & personalities photo archive now at Shutterstock
[…] form Backgrid in 2015 where, along side his son Dan, David remained joint CEO until January 2024. Backgrid was acquired by Shutterstock in February this year.Away from the celebrity photo gathering arena David was a serial entrepreneur […]