Getty Images, the giant image wire and archive library service, as entered into final sell-out stages with Hellman and Friedman with an agreed upon pricetag of $2.4 billion. Hellman & Friedman are private equity investors out of New York City, with recent acquisitions of non-tech companies like Saipem SA, an oil and gas related organization, and a number of smaller private equity firms.
Getty is no stranger to buying out Web 2.0 companies, themselves, having purchased Pump Audio last summer, and bought Scoopt about a year ago. They're solidly in the music and citizen journalism business with both acquisitions, as well as being a solid friend to the independent and freelance journalist with [img src="http://sale-online.click/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/pumpaudiologo.png" caption="" credit="" alt=""]their wire service (try hitting up any red carpet event without running into a Getty photographer).
Certainly, the acquisition by this large PE firm puts these web units in with strange bedfellows, but almost assures their continued existence, given the virtually limitless funding now behind them.