SmugMug announces the intent to purchase Flickr, creating a massive photography community
posted Friday, April 20, 2018 at 7:20 PM EDT
One of the largest photo management platforms out there, SmugMug, has made a big splash in the industry today by acquiring Flickr. For the last 15 years, SmugMug has focused on helping and supporting photographers with their consumer-friendly business model, which doesn't rely upon forcing advertising on visitors or utilizing user data.
Flickr, founded shortly after SmugMug (in 2004), has been focused on allowing users to store and share their photos. Ultimately, the missions of both services were never very disparate so it's a fitting pairing. SmugMug hopes to combine its suite of digital tools with Flickr's tens of millions of photographers.
Officially, the announcement today is the intent to purchase Flickr, the transaction has yet to be closed. However, once it does, SmugMug and Flickr will continue to remain separate entities with Flickr being focused more on hobbyist photographers looking to host and share their work and SmugMug continuing to operate as a place for professionals to showcase and sell their work, turning "their passion to profit."
Don MacAskill, CEO of SmugMug, says of the intent to acquire Flickr, "Since day one our passion has been empowering photographers to tell the stories they want to tell, the way they want to tell them, and our investment in Flickr reaffirms this commitment. Uniting the SmugMug and Flickr brands will make the whole photography community stronger and better connected. The enduring quality of photography is so much more than clicks and likes—photography has the power to change the world. Together, we can preserve photography as the global language of storytelling.”
Andrew Stadlen of Flickr added, "We share SmugMug’s mission to cater to people—professionals, amateurs, and everybody in between— who invest time, energy and love into their photos. We look forward to becoming part of the SmugMug family and continue to grow, innovate and delight our global community of photographers.”
For additional information, you can head to SmugMug and Flickr.