Last week we reported Shutterstock CEO Stan Pavlovsky resigned from the photo agency …all change this week! In a double news shout this morning from Shutterstock New York HQ they have announced Paul Hennessy (photo above) as their new CEO and confirmed the acquisition of video stock library Pond5 for $210Mn cash.
Mr Hennessy says: “For the last seven years, I have been fortunate to have a front row seat to the disruption and innovation Shutterstock has achieved – from industry-leading proprietary technology to world class workflow applications – and I’m honored to be the next Chief Executive Officer,” said Mr. Hennessy. “I believe the opportunities ahead are endless, and I’m committed to our strategy of building a full-service creative platform that delivers an exceptional experience for our customers at scale. I have a profound belief in Shutterstock’s people, and I look forward to setting the vision, making the appropriate investments, and creating a culture that motivates and inspires both shareholder and customer value. Together with our talented senior leadership team, Jon and our Board, I am confident we will successfully herald Shutterstock into a new era.”
PAN note: Prior to joining Shutterstock as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hennessy, 57, served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Vroom, Inc., an online pre-owned car retailer. There, he led the Vroom Inc. IPO, strategic acquisitions, and built Vroom into a top 10 automotive retailer in the United States with over $3B in revenue in 2021. Previously, Mr. Hennessy successfully developed and led growth strategies for priceline.com, a provider of online travel and travel related reservation and search services, as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.
On the Pond5 buy Shutterstock say: ‘This expansive content library enables Shutterstock’s global customer community to create with confidence, and provides value to Pond5’s 115K+ contributors, by expanding the distribution of their content to new regions and customers. Shutterstock Studios customers are also able to leverage their access to the offering, integrating clips from Pond5’s unparalleled offering into powerful short form and long form content.’
“The acquisition of Pond5 provides immense value for our global customer base, with unparalleled access to one of the largest collections of editorial and commercial video content in the world,” said Jon Oringer, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Shutterstock. “Our contributors will also benefit from having their work showcased on Pond5’s platform, expanding their portfolio to new customers.”
Tom Crary, CEO at Pond5 said, “We could not be more thrilled to join forces with Shutterstock to lead the video and music space. Our combined editorial offerings will be a competitive force in the market, and offer additional choice to customers with highly exclusive editorial video content.”
PAN note: Since its inception in 2006, Pond5 has built an expanding contributor network of over 115,000 active contributors across 180 countries, who upload over 2.5 million assets each month. Additionally, Pond5’s premium editorial content partners, such as Reuters, PA Media and British Movietone, will provide Shutterstock’s global customer community access to up-to-the-minute and archival news footage.
• Read all Pond5 news on PAN
• Read all Shutterstock news on PAN
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