By: Jim Pickerell
Many in the industry were surprised on April 1st when they went to www.Crestock.com and discovered that "Crestock.com today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Corbis in a cash and asset transaction valued at approximately $625 million USD. "
According to the press release, a group of Scandinavian investors and the Norwegian government fund organization Innovation Norway had supplied funding for the acquisition.
In fact, it was an elaborate April Fool's joke. We hope Gary Shenk and Bill Gates were amused. The alert among you, however, did not fail to notice the date of the announcement. The description of how Corbis would operate as a separate brand, combined with a rudimentary "Crestock-style" Corbis logo was just one clue.