Jupitermedia has confirmed it is talking to Getty Images to sell its online images division, a story that came out in NYP yesterday. And it is also looking to offload its media division separately as well, the the images sale is hinged on that, the company said in a statement.
It said that the potential sale of the company to Getty Images in a cash transaction that would be valued at $9.60 per share.
So who will buy JUPM’s media division? We have heard rumors for a while that some PE firm would buy Ziff Davis’ enterprise division, and merge it with JUPM’s media division…but that rumor has been around for more than a year and nothing has happened. One of the strong possibilities that the statement says is that CEO Alan Meckler stills want to stay involved in the media business, so even after he sells the media division, could stay involved, as a co-investor possibly. From the statement: Meckler “has indicated a willingness to acquire such assets at a price that Getty Images has indicated would be acceptable to it, in the event no third party bidder offers to purchase the JupiterWeb business and related assets at a higher price prior to the closing of the proposed acquisition of Jupitermedia by Getty Images.”