Chinese company buys Corbis

A Chinese media company has purchased one of the world's largest photo collections, US-based Corbis Images, owned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Unity Glory, a subsidiary of the Visual China Group (VCG), acquired the still images and motion picture archives of Corbis Corp. Gates founded the company in 1989 under the name Interactive Home Systems. The goal was to sell people digital artwork for their homes. The company's name was changed to Continuum Productions in 1992 and then to Corbis Corp.

Financial terms of the deal announced on Jan 22 were not disclosed.

Corbis Images, whose operations are centralized in Seattle, owns a collection of more than 100 million photos and 800,000 videos, according to the company's website.

VCG, established in 2000, manages China's largest digital visual content platform. The company provides images, videos and other multimedia content to nearly 15,000 advertisers and media outlets in China. It has more than 600 employees in major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Under a separate but related deal also announced on Jan 22 with VCG, the Corbis photos will be migrated over to Getty Images and combined with Getty's collection of 200 million images to create one of the largest online photo archives.

VCG has had a near decade-long partnership with Getty to distribute the latter's content exclusively in China, which will now include the Corbis collection. Getty Images will make the content available outside of China

Under the agreement, three units of Corbis will be a part of the deal: Corbis Images, Corbis Motion and the company's Veer licensing brands.

The sale does not include the three Corbis Entertainment businesses - the Branded Entertainment Network, Splash and Greenlight, its rights clearance and representation business. Corbis Entertainment will be rebranded under a new name in the coming months.

Corbis will continue to maintain representation rights for celebrities and iconic personalities, including Muhammad Ali, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Marvin Gaye, Steve McQueen, Sophia Loren, Bruce Lee and Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Amy Jun Liang, CEO of VCG said in a statement that the Corbis acquisition marked a milestone in the company's attempt to globalize and "strengthens our dominant position in China's image industry".

Gary Shenk, CEO of Corbis, said the sale will allow the company to focus on its entertainment advertising division in a rapidly changing advertising landscape.

jackfreifelder@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 01/26/2016 page1)