PA Media Group, which owns the PA news agency, has bought leading stock images company Alamy for an undisclosed amount.
Alamy was founded 20 years ago and boasts almost 200m stock photographs, with close to 100,000 customers in more than 150 countries across publishing, broadcast, design and advertising.
The deal marks the PA group’s first foray into the stock images market, part of a long-term strategy to diversify its business and consolidate its position as a leading cross-platform content provider, it said.
Alamy will continue to operate as a subsidiary of PA Media Group, maintaining its brand identity.
Alamy co-founder James West (pictured) will step down as chief executive and join the board in an advisory position, while fellow co-founder Mike Fischer will leave his position of chairman. No other job losses are expected.
PA Media Group chief executive Clive Marshall said Alamy would add “real scale and diversity” to the group’s photo services, offering a “wider, richer image portfolio” to its customers.
He added: “This transformational acquisition will significantly increase our customer base and provide the PA Media Group with a strong presence in the international market for the first time.
“Alamy has created a fantastic ecosystem of content creators and content users around a superior e-commerce platform…
“In addition, this acquisition will further strengthen the financial performance of the company and help secure the future of our core news agency business.”
West said PA was a “natural home” for the company and could “look forward to a fantastic future” as part of the group.
“PA shares our ethos of integrity and quality, and has an excellent reputation built over 150 years,” he said.
Picture: Twitter/Alamy
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