Addition expands comprehensive creative choice and services in one place
SEATTLE and DÜSSELDORF (January 3, 2005)–Corbis today announced its acquisition of Zefa Visual Media Group, the third-largest image licensing company in the world, resulting in combined revenues in excess of US$200 MM. The addition of Zefa advances Corbis’ strategy of offering complete visual solutions, encompassing existing imagery, custom production, and rights services.
“This deal further solidifies our plan to accelerate penetration of key commercial markets,” said Steve Davis, President and CEO of Corbis. “Moreover, as a result, we expect to dramatically improve our market share, not only in Germany, France, and the UK, but around the globe.”
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, Zefa has more than 140 employees and eight offices throughout Europe. The company represents more than 450,000 images, used daily by advertising agencies, corporations, and publishers around the world.
“Zefa’s fresh, fashion-forward photography is a perfect complement to Corbis’ imagery and services,” said Jennifer Hurshell, Corbis Senior Vice-President, Image Licensing. “Our clients demand tremendous stylistic breadth of imagery, and this takes us another step forward to building one of greatest creative resources in the world.”
“Corbis and Zefa share a deep commitment to offering our clients the most relevant imagery to communicate their ideas,” said Tomas Speight, CEO of Zefa. “This will enormously benefit our photographers, who will gain global reach from Corbis’ global sales network and industry-leading services.”
In 2005, Corbis will integrate Zefa into its website, global sales organization, and marketing programs, offering comprehensive access to Corbis and Zefa imagery and services. Erwin Fey, Zefa President, will transition into a strategic consulting role with Corbis, and Tomas Speight, CEO of Zefa, will enter a new role as a Vice-President, leading international operations expansion activities.
ABOUT CORBIS
Corbis provides complete visual solutions used every day by
publishers, advertising and design agencies, filmmakers, and other
creative professionals to tell their stories with impact that goes
beyond words. Our image licensing, rights services and assignment
photography services enable clients around the world to differentiate
brands, sell products and services, support news stories and entertain
audiences.
Corbis images can be found and licensed at www.corbis.com. And client advisory services are available around the clock—including subject matter and conceptual research, rights management and clearances, and production expertise.
Corbis is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Tokyo.
ABOUT ZEFA VISUAL MEDIA
zefa visual media gmbh is the largest European group in the
professional stock imagery market, and currently ranks number three
worldwide. The main office of zefa visual media group is in Düsseldorf,
Germany. There is another sales office in Hamburg as well as 16
subsidiaries and partner agencies around the world, all forming the
zefa visual media group. The range of images offered by zefa covers a
wide selection of rights-managed and royalty-free collections. In
addition, zefa visual media also has its own global network of top
creative photographers.
Over 70 group partners license the usage rights to the group´s images via its global image portal www.zefaimages.com.
Media Contacts:
Corbis
Dov Schiff (US)
Corbis
+1 (206) 373-6298
dov.schiff@corbis.com
Harrison Wise
Trylon Communications (US)
+1 212 725 2295
harrisonw@tryloncommunications.com
