Poster e-tailer grabs Art.com assets
Allwall.com acquires the Web address, customer list and other assets of Getty Images' Art.com for an undisclosed amount of cash.
Allwall bought the Art.com Web address, most of the site's intellectual property, its customer list and other remaining assets, Allwall Chief Executive Joshua Shodniewicz said.
Getty said earlier this month that it would sell the e-tail site. The Seattle-based company acquired Art.com during the heyday of e-commerce, but said earlier this month that it decided to move out of the consumer market and focus on its business-to-business operations.
Although Shodniewicz did not give the exact figure of the cash deal, he said his company acquired Art.com for less that the $115.7 million Getty paid for the site in 1999.
Involved in a battle with Bill Gates-owned digital imaging company Corbis, Getty has been on a spending spree in the last couple of years. In addition to its acquisition of Art.com, Getty bought Visual Communications Group from the United Kingdom's United News & Media for $227 million last year and Image Bank from Eastman Kodak for $193 million in 1999.