For sure it has its advantages *not* to be a public traded company. The moment you´re public - reverse merger or not -, you have to release nearly everything to the financial community. The A21 Group - with its aim to become the No. 3 or No.4 in the picture business - had been on the hunt for Nonstock for almost over one year (February 25, 2003: a21 Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Nonstock). Shortly after upcoming difficulties (September 15, 2003: Letter of Intent to Acquire Nonstock Expires) it was appallingly obvious that this deal would never take place. The last takeover had been Superstock (March 30, 2004: a21 Completes SuperStock Acquisition) some weeks ago.
With Nonstock PictureArts is adding "a fourth distinctive picture library" to FoodPix, Brand X Pictures and Botanica.
Nonstock was created in 1994 by Jerry Tavin and Janou Pakter as an artistic and imaginative alternative image source. The collection now represents over 40,000 pictures from 500 artists, and is distributed worldwide.
"The acquisition of this outstanding collection marks an important milestone in the growth of our company," says PictureArts' CEO, Jeffrey Burke . "Nonstock's images will be a strong complement to our existing rights-managed and royalty-free brands. They have a significant roster of Contributing Artists that we are eager to meet."
Jerry Tavin, Nonstock's founder and president, will continue to work with PictureArts as Senior Consultant for Artist and International Relations.
The question that remains regarding A21: if you can only grow by taking over other companies, who can be the next candidate in the US or Europe? We´re working on a detailed A21-report with an in-depth-coverage so stay tuned.
