Article Summary:

Hellman & Friedman, the U.S. private equity fund which bought the stock agency, Getty Images, four years ago is looking to either sell, or issue a public offering of the business, The Financial Times reports. Getty Images was founded in 1996 by Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein to bring the fragmented stock photography business into the digital age. It is now the world’s largest supplier of stock imagery but has been unpopular with content providers for some time, as it has been reducing costs, primarily by enforcing stricter contracts and paying less royalties.