At yesterday's Goldman Sachs 2007 Communacopia Conference, Jonathan Klein told investment analysts that about 75% of Getty Images' business is down. "Our core stock-photography business has stopped growing. In fact, it is declining," he said.
The announcement came as no surprise to analysts who have been adjusting their ratings and reducing targets for Getty stock. It slid to a 52-week low last Tuesday. Kaufman Bros., for example, estimated that Getty stock price has been cut by 71% to 87%. Currently hovering around $27, the stock is predicted to stabilize at $23.
As previously reported, analysts' have tied their latest projections to Getty's recent announcement of its new $49 Web-use license. Consequently, much of Klein's speech was spent defending it. Klein insists that the new license is not a price cut; images are being offered in a previously unavailable file size, which constitutes an entirely new product. This semantic argument has met with skepticism from photographers, agents and analysts across the board, particularly since Getty images were licensed for 10 times the new fee prior to last week.
Still, Klein promises that Getty will "own the online imagery market." He thinks the rest of the business will eventually stabilize as well. He also said the company is adjusting to the "dramatic re-rating of Getty Images [stock] in the last six weeks." He would not, however, answer questions about stock buy-backs or go into details about Getty remaining a public company.