a21, SuperStock implode: Stock agency files for bankruptcy
A year after announcing they were exploring “strategic alternatives,” the media company a21 and subsidiary SuperStock–which marketed itself as a higher-end stock photography outlet–announced today they would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“After exhausting all possibilities, and considering the current state of credit markets, we determined that the best way to complete a restructuring of our Company and to protect the franchise value of our underlying businesses was to pursue a sale of the Company’s assets under Court supervision in a Chapter 11 proceeding,” a21 President and CEO John Ferguson said in a statement the company released today.
SuperStock was not a discount stock provider like iStockPhoto, which sells some images for as little as $1. For example, SuperStock’s fee for licensing an image for one week of editorial use on a Web site could be $170.
The collapse makes SuperStock the third stock photography agency to fold in as many months.
In mid September, PhotoShelter announced that it would shut down its stock branch, the PhotoShelter Collection, after just a year in business. Just more than a month later, Digital Railroad, a photo hosting company that managed a stock photography wing called the Digital Railroad Marketplace, announced that it would cut staffing. Shortly thereafter, the entire company was dismantled, sending photographers fleeing toward PhotoShelter and other photo hosting services and leaving major clients like NCAA Photo and Cal Sport Media frantically searching for other companies to manage their sites.
According to today’s statement from the company, a21 will be sold at auction to the highest bidder. Ferguson said a21 and SuperStock would continue normal business operations through the end of the auction.
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