US firm snaps up Kerry company for €110m

A KERRY company, started modestly 10 years ago, was purchased yesterday for a massive €110 million by the world’s leading creator and distributor of images for use in the mass media.

Stockbyte founder and chief executive Jerry Kennelly, 45, confirmed he had sold the Tralee-based company, which was set up with IR£100,000 capital, to Getty Images, of Seattle, USA.

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.

Getty is effectively buying from the Tralee company 85,000 royalty-free images that can be used to sell, educate, or entertain global audiences.

Such images appear every day in the world’s newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films, television programmes, books and websites.

Up to 60% of the Stockbyte image collection is already on the Getty website.

The acquisition was announced on the New York Stock Exchange at 1pm (Irish time) yesterday.

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.