Earlier this year, the announcement that the once mighty Corbis agency will be acquired by the Chinese company VCG, now comes with deadlines: Corbis' microstock subsidiary Veer has just announced their closure effective March 30. Customers are being transferred with their remaining credits or a subscription to Getty's subsidiary iStock as part of a deal the leading agency has made with Visual China Group. VCG has announced that it has no interest to license images themselves outside of China, so this step is part of the global partnership with Getty Images that already existed before the Corbis acquisition.
What the Veer Closure means for Veer Contributors
For contributors, this means sales will run out end of March with Veer. According to a statement by the Veer support, payments are still being made through the usual process at this time. After the closure on March 30, all remaining balances will be paid out before April 15, 2016, independent of their amount.
Announcement on Veer's Website: As part of VCG’s purchase of Corbis and partnership with Getty Images, we are pleased to welcome all Veer customers to iStock by Getty Images. Effective March 30, the Veer business and website will no longer be accessible. To learn more about the transition to iStock or for additional assistance, please click here.
Images are not being transferred to iStock
Images will not be transferred, as many contributors supplied both companies with the same content, this would have let to duplication and possible problems with the keywording systems. Veer has announced that contributors who are not supplying iStock so far are also invited to apply to iStock and will be reviewed on an expedited schedule if they mention their prior relationship with Veer during the application.
