Corbis Restructures With New CEO; Laying Off 160 Employees

By Rafat Ali - Tue 03 Jul 2007 01:23 PM PST

Corbis, the digital image licensing firm in fierce competition with Getty Images, has announced a restructuring where it will focus on its core image licensing business. The company, owned in majority by Bill Gates, will shut down its photo assignment business, and will sell its digital asset management business. The Seattle company will keep its stock photo and stock video businesses and its rights clearances division. It will also lay off about 160 employees as result.

These move contrasts sharply with the strategy at Getty Images, as StockAsylum points out. As a result of slower growth on the commercial side, Getty has been expanding its editorial and celebrity photography divisions through acquisitions, and recently announced its expansion into music licensing business with the acquisition of Pump Audio.

Corbis has a new CEO Gary Shenk, who start this coming Monday, and the changes came after a review of the busines by the new management team.