Two snippets from recently updated irish news sources:
The Irish Times writes today in "Tralee man to make €110m on sale of digital image company":
The company is the third-largest in a market dominated by Getty Images and rival Corbis, which is owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. [...]
He set up the company in Tralee in 1997, with support from ACT Venture Capital.
In 2003, Mr Kennelly bought out ACT's interest. Since then, he and his wife, Johanna, have been the sole shareholders. [...]
Mr Kennelly launched the company with £100,000 (€127,000). Yesterday's deal means he has made a return of close to 1,000 per cent on his original investment. [...]
As a result of the deal, the Kennellys are to leave the business, which will shift to Getty's operation in London. The 28 staff will be offered the opportunity to locate to other Getty businesses or lose their jobs.
However, Mr Kennelly has provided a €5 million fund, after tax, for the workers, meaning that they will get an average of €175,000 tax-free each from the deal. "We had to do something, because the business depended on everyone working at their peak to bring it to this level," he said.
Mr Kennelly told The Irish Times yesterday that the company had sales last year of €50 million and had captured 10 per cent of the worldwide market for stock photography.
Mr Kennelly has agreed not to compete with Getty Images. But he pledged yesterday to find a new enterprise.
"What we have proved is that you can set up and run a big business from rural Ireland," he said. "I'm going to continue in business. I'm Kerry born and bred and I'm not going to become a tax exile - I'm going to stay in Kerry."
Entrepreneur says it was time to go: Business This Week.
The Friday Newspaper Review today:
But he also said it was a “very bittersweet” occasion, as his 28 employees were told yesterday they were being made redundant with the closure of the Tralee office.
Mr Kennelly said a €5m package, after tax, was being set aside for the employees who had helped make his company such a success. “It’s appropriate to recognise the hard work and creativity of these people and that they should share in our good fortune,” he said. “They’re very skilled and talented people, who can write their own travel ticket and I’m sure some of them will start their own successful businesses.”
If evenly distributed, the package would work out at just under €180,000 per employee. Getty Images public relations director for Europe Alison Crombie said her company would also provide adequate compensation for the staff, who would have opportunities to work in some of the company’s other offices. [...]
Up to 60% of the Stockbyte image collection is already on the Getty website. [...]
Mr Kennelly, a former freelance press photographer, also resigned yesterday. However, he is to act as a facilitator for the integration of Stockbyte into Getty. “There’s a time to get in and a time to get out. We signed this deal at 5am today. It was time to get out. That’s business,” he told a news conference at his offices in Tralee. “This strategy is right for Getty Images and right for us. There’s a requirement for people like Getty to acquire wholly owned media images.”
Mr Kennelly said his ambition was to form a global business and to present it as a world player. “We were prepared to take on the giants of the industry and we won. We’ve proved that a world-beating company can be conceived in and worked successfully out of Tralee,” he said.
Tags: Getty Images Stockbyte
