SEATTLE — Getty Images has acquired the rights to all the images in the massive library of its main rival, Corbis — albeit, in a roundabout way.
Seattle-based Corbis, owned by Bill Gates, announced Friday it has sold its images division to Visual China Group, based in Beijing, for an undisclosed amount. VCG will own Corbis’ images and motion archives.
At the same time, Getty, which was founded in Seattle and still has a large presence in the city, announced that it had struck an exclusive deal with VCG to license all of Corbis’ images in every country across the world, save China.
Corbis will continue to exist under its entertainment division, which works on product placement and advertising. The company had been struggling recently as competition in the imaging licensing world increased. Corbis cut about 15 percent of its staff in November, Bloomberg News reported.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
