The Numbers Speak for Themselves - GYI down 30%

Let's see, take $25.7M and divide it by $37.3M, and you get just over a 30% drop over 3Q of 2006. From their press release:

Net income for the third quarter of 2007 was $25.7 million...compared to $37.3 million...in the third quarter of 2006.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

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Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) totaled $84.0 million...compared to $73.6 million...in the third quarter of 2006.

So, you're down 30%, but are still bloated by staff you just couldn't bear to terminate in your previous 'redundancies' layoffs?

"The increase over the prior year is directly attributable to recently acquired companies, the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates and investments that the company is making in areas that will drive future growth."

Perhaps those folks are being spared until it's necessary to make Q4 numbers look good, so you'll dump them just before then? Yes yes, I know you've dropped your SG&A by 3% relative to but really, come on!

To continue:

Revenue growth came from increasing licenses for editorial and micropayment imagery, digital asset management, photo assignments, and publicity distribution. This growth was partially offset by lower revenues in the company's traditional creative stills business.

Translation: We've screwed our profitability in creative stills along the way with our roll-up of all the stock photography shops we acquired, and we've seen revenue grown from the penny-ante micropayment images, and with WireImage now in our fold, and us charging $5,000 to cover an event and post images online - a.k.a. "publicity distribution", and pay photographers only $250 and requiring them to transfer copyright to those assignments, that kind of cost-to-profit ratio sure can cover a lot of losses from when we dropped from $500 average online sale to a buffet of $49 for the same thing.

Next up:

"We have made tremendous progress expanding beyond our traditional creative stills imagery business on our way to becoming a complete digital media company," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer.

Translation: We're coming for you next audio and video purveyors. We're going to slash and burn prices there too, just look at what we've done "for" creative stills! You're next!

Yet, in after-hours trading, Getty is up, even with the AP reporting "Getty Images Inc. expects fourth-quarter profit to drop below Wall Street estimates...", and "Shares are up almost 6% as traders accept lower numbers on the hopes that the worst is behind the company" according to 24/7 Wall Street.

Yeah, keep hopin' and dreamin'! That, and a few of the bucks a microstock photographer earns from several sales will be enough for them to be able to afford the latte they are serving their own customers now that they are a barista as well, hoping to make ends meet that way.

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