Shutterfly—the massive online retailer of personalized photo-based products such as calendars and photo books—has announced plans to acquire Lifetouch, a professional photography company. The acquisition, which isn't yet finalized, will cost Shutterfly $825 million according to Star Tribune, who broke the news.
Speaking about the business deal to Star Tribune, Lifetouch CEO Michael Meek revealed that the company's growth hasn't been sufficient enough to generate the cash needed for new tech investments, among other things. Shutterfly presents the solution, with its CEO Chris North explaining that the company will bring its products and cloud-based management system to Lifetouch.
"We're focused on growing both these businesses," North explained. "We're just now bringing the two teams together. "
Of course, this isn't a one-way deal—Lifetouch has a lot to offer Shutterfly, mainly the prospective business of its 10 million-or-so customers, many of whom may turn to Shutterfly post-acquisition for their photo product needs. "Lifetouch is [an] expert at photography and we provide online tools," says North. "Each company will operate separately to serve their customers, but each company has things the other can use. "
Assuming everything goes according to plan, the companies anticipate the acquisition to close in the second quarter of this year.
. dpreview.com2018-2-2 20:40
