Getty Images

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Getty Images, Inc. Template:NYSE is one of the world's best known stock photo agencies, based in Seattle, Washington. In 1993, Mark Getty and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Klein co-founded Getty Investments LLC, which today is the principal shareholder of Getty Images. Mark Getty is the company's chairman.

The leading supplier of stock images for business and consumers has an archive of 70 million still images and illustrations and more than 30,000 hours of stock film footage. It targets three markets -- creative professionals (advertising and graphic design), the media (print and online publishing), and corporate communication departments for other businesses. Getty has distribution offices around the world and continues to capitalize on the Internet and CD-ROM collections for distribution. The company has also begun offering custom photo services for corporate clients. The Getty family owns about 20% of the company.

Competition

There are dozens of companies selling stock photography who compete with Getty, but the two largest companies are Jupitermedia Corporation, a public company formerly known as Internet.com, and Corbis, a private company controlled by Bill Gates. These three -- Getty, Jupiter and Corbis -- are in the process of "rolling-up" the stock photo business by buying out the many family-owned businesses that created the field. In recent months, Getty bought out Digital Vision, and Jupiter bought Comstock and PictureArts.

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Stock Photographer's Associations