Digital media giant Adobe is to acquire Fotolia, a privately held marketplace for royalty-free photos, images, graphics and HD video, for US$800m in cash.
As a result, Fotolia will be integrated into the Adobe Creative Cloud, which will enable members of the cloud service to access 34m images and videos.
Adobe also plans to continue to operate Fotolia as a standalone stock service that anyone can access.
Adobe’s Creative Cloud enables 3.4m members to access the latest array of desktop tools, mobile apps, training content and creative assets.
Many creative businesses use the Creative Cloud application, as it offers subscription-based access to various digital tools, including Photoshop and Premiere Pro, among others.
However, Adobe had to apologise in May when the service suffered a day-long outage.
Either way, the Creative Cloud is going from strength-to-strength for Adobe. Adobe last night reported a strong fourth-quarter financial results, with US$1.07bn in revenue and some 644,000 new paying Creative Cloud subscribers.
The art of business, the business of art
“The acquisition of Fotolia will reinforce Creative Cloud’s role as the pre-eminent destination for creatives,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice-president, Digital Media, Adobe.
“Creative Cloud is becoming the go-to marketplace for the creative community to access images, videos, fonts and creative talent, through critical creative services like Fotolia and our new Creative Talent Search capabilities.”
Fotolia was established in 2004 and has operations in New York, Paris and Berlin. The company operates in 23 countries, has websites in 14 languages and is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of Adobe’s fiscal first quarter of 2015 and is subject to regulatory approval.
“Becoming part of the Adobe family is a dream come true for the Fotolia team and will accelerate our vision to become the best place for artists to build a business and the ultimate destination for designers to find stunning creative work,” said Oleg Tscheltzoff, founder and CEO of Fotolia.
