ExtortionLetterInfo Forums
ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: Matthew Chan on September 02, 2015, 04:16:53 AM
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For those looking towards Getty Images financial demise, Moody's Investor Service released some interesting information on August 14, 2015:
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-says-Getty-Images-plan-to-issue-additional-debt-is--PR_332559
Some interesting quotes from the Moody's report:
Given the company's very high leverage and limited free cash flow, Moody's believes capital to be raised by the company to fund additional growth investments should be largely in the form of equity to avoid negative rating actions. Getty Images' senior secured term loan B (roughly $1.85 billion outstanding) is due 2019 and the $550 million 7% senior notes are due 2020. The ability to refinance these debt instruments prior to their maturities becomes increasingly challenged to the extent the company is not able to reduce leverage below current levels.
Basically, Getty Images has a ton of debt to support. They are barely holding it together right now. There are some major loans due in 2019 and 2020 and there are concerns that Getty might not be able to refinance.
Revenue totaled $827 million for the 12 months ended June 30, 2015.
No doubt that the License Compliance division contributes to these revenues. I would even go so far that upper management constantly cracks the whip on them to collect more money. Getty Images desperately needs cash flow to service their debt levels.
If you sign up for a free account of the Moody's Investor Service (as I did), you will find even more goodies (although some reports you have to pay for to read).
Here is another negative report by Moody's about Getty Images from December 15, 2014.
Moody's Changes Outlook of Getty Images from Stable to NEGATIVE!
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-changes-the-outlook-of-Getty-Images-to-Negative-from--PR_314730
This particular article has a LOT of detail that I have not entirely processed yet. But it is mostly bad from the tone of the article.
Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") changed the rating outlook of Getty Images, Inc. ("Getty Images") to negative from stable due to continuing declines in Midstock revenue and Moody's revised forecast indicating very high leverage over the next 12 months with reduced free cash flow.
At the end of 2014/early 2015, Moody's gave Getty Images very bad marks to their corporate health.
I predict that Getty Images will have to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the near future to do a corporate reorg. Short of substantial cash revenue growth or investor cash infusion, their corporate debt seems likely to break them in the near future. Remember this, I am calling it now!
I am betting that most of the Getty Images employees have no clue how bad things are because most of them are only concerned about their salaries and not smart enough to read investor business reports to get the inside poop of a large company. Upper management has no incentive to tell their lower-level employees of the financial crisis Getty Images is in. Lower level employees are always the last to know.
Smart Getty employees will start polishing their resumes and get the hell out before things get really bad. Upper management will always take care of themselves with golden parachutes while the line employees and lower management take a bloodbath.
Getty employees can thank me for advance warning of a future Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. I don't have confidence Getty will turn it around but, who knows, I could be proven wrong.
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Thanks for the info, got to say you had to see it coming ever since Getty announced last year they burned through 1/3 of their cash in the last three months and could no longer "compete" (buy up the competition) anymore.
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They tried to buy up all the competition but most of the stock photo industry tanked on them. Quite frankly, the value of most stock photography is fairly low. There is a huge abundance (glut) of photographs today.
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They tried to buy up all the competition but most of the stock photo industry tanked on them. Quite frankly, the value of most stock photography is fairly low. There is a huge abundance (glut) of photographs today.
Agreed, and the fact that almost anyone can take a nice looking picture now a days. I have a very nice camera I use to take pictures of my jobs for my website, I don't know 90% of what the camera can do but when I set it to Auto it takes beautiful photos. Gone are the days where the really nice photos required a professional photag who took his pictures and then went home and had to develop his film. Heck, even some of the phones now take beautiful pictures.
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Agreed, and the fact that almost anyone can take a nice looking picture now a days. I have a very nice camera I use to take pictures of my jobs for my website, I don't know 90% of what the camera can do but when I set it to Auto it takes beautiful photos. Gone are the days where the really nice photos required a professional photag who took his pictures and then went home and had to develop his film. Heck, even some of the phones now take beautiful pictures.
photographers worldwide would cringe after reading this, kinda like saying, "hey that's a nice set of pots and pans you have there, I bet your food is really good!"
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Agreed, and the fact that almost anyone can take a nice looking picture now a days. I have a very nice camera I use to take pictures of my jobs for my website, I don't know 90% of what the camera can do but when I set it to Auto it takes beautiful photos. Gone are the days where the really nice photos required a professional photag who took his pictures and then went home and had to develop his film. Heck, even some of the phones now take beautiful pictures.
photographers worldwide would cringe after reading this, kinda like saying, "hey that's a nice set of pots and pans you have there, I bet your food is really good!"
I hear you, but for the small business website you can now take most pictures you need yourself or get them reasonably from ethical sites like Pond5 and spend only a few bucks.
I should have been more specific, there is no way that most of the pictures I see Getty sending the letters over are worth the 400 - 1200 dollars Getty asks, gone are the days, in my opinion at least, when these images were actually worth that because of everything involved to produce the picture. Getty still thinks they are operating in that world and it's time for them to come out of the dark room and join the rest of us.