industry stock photography stock footage stock music founded 2003 founder jon oringer headquarters empire state building 350 fifth avenue new york city united states key people jon oringer ceo steven berns cfo catherine ulrich cpo products shutterstock editor shutterstock tab shutterstock image subscription services licensing of stock media owner jon oringer 46.3 % 1 number of employees 700 2 subsidiaries bigstock rex features premiumbeat offset webdam website shutterstock.com shutterstock is an american stock photography stock footage stock music and editing tools provider 3 headquartered in new york city . 4 founded in 2003 by programmer and photographer jon oringer 5 shutterstock maintains a library of around 90 million royalty free stock photos vector graphics and illustrations 6 with around 4 million video clips and music tracks available for licensing . 6 originally a subscription site only 7 shutterstock expanded beyond subscriptions into a la carte pricing in 2008 8 and has been publicly traded on the new york stock exchange 9 since 2012 . 9 10 since its founding shutterstock has acquired a handful of other companies starting with bigstock in 2009 11 and followed by digital asset management software provider webdam in 2014 . 12 after acquiring rex features and premiumbeat in 2015 13 shutterstock recently announced a partnership with the associated press . 6 it also has licensing deals with companies such as penske media corporation . 14 the company had over 100 000 contributors as of march 2016 6 with an active customer base of 1.4 million people in 150 countries . 15 contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 2003 2011 1.2 acquisitions and ipo 2012 2013 1.3 offset and new partnerships 2013 2014 1.4 recent developments 2015 2016 2 facilities and staff 3 business model 4 products 4.1 shutterstock film and music 4.2 shutterstock apps 4.3 shutterstock labs 4.4 offset 4.5 computer vision 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit founding and early years 2003 2011 edit shutterstock was founded in 2003 by american entrepreneur and computer programmer jon oringer . 16 creating his own online marketplace 4 oringer initially uploaded 30 000 of his own stock photos and made them available via subscription 4 with unlimited downloads and a monthly starting fee of usd 49 . 4 when demand exceeded his photo supply 4 he became an agent 17 and began hiring additional contributors . 4 helping pioneer the subscription based microstock photography business model 17 shutterstock claimed that it was the largest subscription based stock photo agency in the world as of 2006 with 570 000 images in its collection . 18 shutterstock branched into film in 2006 with the launch of shutterstock footage 18 and by 2007 the company had 1.8 million photos . 7 insight venture partners invested in the company that year . 4 shutterstock expanded beyond subscriptions into a la carte pricing in august 2008 with its on demand service removing daily download limits . 8 on september 23 2009 shutterstock announced that it had purchased bigstock a rival credit based microstock photography agency . 11 fast company argued the deal put shutterstock on a competitive playing field with getty whose istockphoto is also credit based . 19 shutterstock s ceo jon oringer stated the addition would enable shutterstock to better satisfy the diverse payment preferences of stock photo buyers worldwide . 11 shutterstock had 11 million royalty free stock images by early 2010 . 20 in february 2011 shutterstock announced a two year partnership with the american institute of graphic arts aiga to provide creative inspiration to its members . 21 claiming it licensed more images than any other brand worldwide in 2011 21 that november shutterstock debuted shutterstock for ipad which it provided for free . 22 acquisitions and ipo 2012 2013 edit with 200 million licensed image downloads as of february 2012 23 by april 2012 the company had 18 million royalty free stock images 20 which grew to 19 million the following month . 24 shutterstock images llc announced the shutterstock instant tool in may 2012 which displayed images in an interlocking mosaic to increase viewing speed . 25 shutterstock instant was launched under the auspices of the newly formed shutterstock labs which develops tools and interfaces for shutterstock among other projects . 25 26 also in may 2012 shutterstock filed for an initial public offering on the new york stock exchange which it completed on october 17 2012 under the ticker sstk . 9 10 in november 2012 shutterstock debuted a universal ios application meant for iphone and ipad among other devices . 27 shutterstock inc. announced spectrum a new image discovery tool in march 2013 . 26 at the time shutterstock had 24 million licensable photos vectors and illustrations in its portfolio . 26 shutterstock launched skillfeed in june 2013 a subscription based online marketplace to connect the creators of instructional videos with consumers . 28 in august 2013 shutterstock and facebook announced a partnership to integrate shutterstock s library within facebook s ad creator allowing advertisers to select from shutterstock s images when creating ads . 29 at the time shutterstock was available in 20 languages including thai korean french italian portuguese spanish german russian chinese and japanese . 30 offset and new partnerships 2013 2014 edit in september 2013 shutterstock launched offset marketplace prioritizing high end curated photos from established artists . 31 a few months later it launched its first android app . 32 in october 2013 shutterstock opened offices in berlin germany . 33 at the time shutterstock stated it served 750 000 customers with 30 percent of those customers in europe . 33 shutterstock s shares had reached a 2.5 billion market value by the fall of 2013 4 while revenue for 2013 was usd 235 million . 34 in march 2014 shutterstock acquired webdam a provider of online digital asset management software . 12 also in march 2014 shutterstock relocated its headquarters to the empire state building . 35 in may 2014 shutterstock and salesforce partnered to integrate shutterstock s image library into salesforce s social studio . 36 shutterstock debuted its palette tool in july 2014 a multi color image discovery tool . 37 shutterstock announced it had surpassed 2 million video clips on september 2 2014 . 38 shortly afterwards it revealed a new app meant to help contributors with uploading and categorizing photos . 39 shutterstock s revenue was 328 million in 2014 an increase of 39 % from 2013 . 16 in 2014 shutterstock paid over 83 million to its roughly 80 000 contributors . 16 recent developments 2015 2016 edit in january 2015 shutterstock acquired both rex features europe s largest independent photo press agency and premiumbeat a stock music and sound effects service . 13 the rex acquisition was estimated at 33 million 40 while premiumbeat was purchased for 32 million . 13 penske media corporation formed a partnership with shutterstock in june 2015 to create and license entertainment and fashion images . according to the terms of the deal by 2016 shutterstock would have an exclusive right and license to pmc s archive 14 which included magazines such as variety women s wear daily 40 and deadline . 16 crain s wrote that with the partnership shutterstock a provider of stock imagery and music tracks is stepping into the world of red carpets and fashion runways and taking a key provider of fashion and entertainment photos and video away from archrival getty images . 40 by march 2016 the company had over 100 000 contributors with around 70 million images and 4 million video clips available for licensing and sale . 6 that month shutterstock announced it would be distributing material from the associated press in the united states with the deal to last 3 years and cover 30 million photos and around 2 million videos . the photos were expected to go live in april . 6 according to entrepreneur shutterstock also had an active customer base of 1.4 million people in 150 countries . 15 facilities and staff edit shutterstock is headquartered in new york city s silicon alley . in october 2013 shutterstock opened its new european headquarters in berlin germany in the kulturbrauerei 33 and by march 2014 shutterstock had additional offices in amsterdam chicago denver london montr al paris and san francisco . 33 after maintaining its new york headquarters for years in a wall street office 4 in march 2014 shutterstock relocated into the empire state building . 35 according to inc. the office was selected with the goal of decreasing commute times for new york employees . 35 the new location was built with no private offices instead with 23 pop in rooms for private meetings and conferences when needed . 35 after its founding in 2003 with ceo jon oringer as the sole employee by 2007 shutterstock had grown to 30 people . in 2010 oringer hired thilo semmelbauer as coo who had previously worked with theladders.com and weight watchers . 4 with 295 employees as of october 2013 4 that had grown to 700 employees as of 2016 . 2 in 2014 fast company published an article featuring shutterstock as an example of a successful intrapreneur reliant company touting the company s hackathons for fostering staff creativity . explains fast company the most obvious benefit of intrapreneurship is the ability to pursue more opportunities allowing shutterstock to test boundaries and experiment with offshoot products that can keep their core consumer base from turning to a competitor for their needs . 41 business model edit shutterstock licenses media for online download on behalf of photographers designers illustrators videographers and musicians 4 maintaining a library of around 90 million royalty free stock photos vector graphics and illustrations . 42 shutterstock also has around 4 million video clips and music clips in its portfolio . 38 while shutterstock currently has several payment models the atlantic wrote in 2012 that shutterstock pioneered the subscription approach to stock photo sales allowing customers to download images in bulk rather than la carte . 24 the atlantic further wrote that shutterstock is a web community in the manner of a facebook or a twitter or a pinterest with its value relying almost entirely on the enthusiasms of its contributors . 24 shutterstock is e commerce with a twist and its success depends on its contributors ability to predict and then provide products that its subscribers will want to buy . the atlantic may 18 2012 24 with potential contributors able to apply to the site for free 16 shutterstock has a team of reviewers charged with ensuring editorial consistency and quality . 24 as of 2016 if one of ten of a photographer s pictures are accepted then they become a shutterstock contributor . 43 as of 2011 only around 20 percent of applicants were approved and less than 60 percent of all the images uploaded by those approved contributors were ultimately put up on the site . 24 once approved contributors can begin uploading their work through the website . they supply keywords categorize the images and submit them to the inspection queue where images are examined for quality usefulness and copyright and trademark laws . each time an image is downloaded the photographer receives a flat rate . 7 44 45 explains vice photographers retain copyright over their images but shutterstock is given full permission to market display and license the image to the customers on their site without final approval from the photographer . 16 as of march 2015 contributors added around 50 000 new images daily and shutterstock had paid around 250 million to contributors since its founding . in 2014 it paid 80 million to contributors . 42 products edit shutterstock film and music edit shutterstock began selling stock video in february 2006 . shutterstock footage operates similarly to their image library offering video clips by subscription or on a per clip basis . 18 as of 2014 shutterstock