jonathan klein

Getty Images has made an interesting acquisition in buying the PicScout image recognition service a few weeks ago, and frankly, it's a smart move.

Getty Images, with millions of images, and a dwindling per image revenue stream, must find alternative revenue streams, and focusing on infringements is wise.

Yesterday, Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein was interviewed for almost four minutes about the Getty deal with the Olympics on CNBC.

At about 2:28 into the interview, the issue of the Tiger Woods image made recently was raised (see link in 'Related' at end of article), and at approximately 2:47, Klein says "... we don't do paparazzi images..." and I about fell off my chair.

I hear all to often that "microstock creates new markets". Ok, so let's take that statement at face value, and agree with it, but break it down to see what monster has actually been "created."

Dictionary.com defines market in several ways, the most applicable to this statement is "a body of existing or potential buyers for specific goods or services."

When it was learned that Getty Images was shuttering its' entire wholly owned creative stock division, it didn't come as a surprise to me, in fact, it was expected.

What is really disappointing is the "kum-ba-yah" message that Dunce-In-Residence CEO Jonathan Klein wrote, and which we posted recently, about how proud he was of his Getty team.

He once again seems to have lulled people into a false sense of (job) security, only to pull the proverbial rug out from underneath the staff department that creates Getty's wholly-owned content.

For those of you Getty-ites who are no longer in the seemingly ever-shrinking inner circle of Getty Images, you're likely missing the pie-in-the-sky missives from the Wizard himself, Mr.

Jonathan Klein. Kleins' delusions musings about the future of the stock photography industry and Getty's place in it is like watching a CNBC panelist advise you to buy AIG:

So, Alamy has reached a critical mass that they've decided they can begin to take advantage of their photographers.

When we last discussed Getty Images (NYSE: GYI) we were predicting lots of "oh, we can't discuss that" responses when the notion of a sale was brought up.

I've been around business for some time.

One of the refrains I've heard often is to invest in what you know. Stories abound about people who invest in companies they know, and that do well.

Maybe it's the consistent positive customer experience a trucker gets at a donut shop that tells them that is a company worth investing in.