Corbis Outline Loses Two Top Executives

For years the one distinct advantage the Corbis Corporation had over its bigger rival Getty Images was Corbis Outline, the high-end celebrity portraiture division that is the jewel in the crown of the Bill Gates-owned imagery company.

Now that advantage appears to be shrinking, as Getty continues to build out Exclusive by Getty Images, its alternative to Corbis Outline, largely with former Corbis employees.

The idea behind the start-up Exclusive offering, as opposed to Getty's already successful stock photography business, is to present a tightly curated collection of feature packages and portraiture by the company's top photographers.

One important step in shoring up the division is to hire an experienced team familiar with the personality driven, service-oriented celebrity portraiture business. To that end, Getty recently hired Elodie Mailliet, who for the past two-plus years has worked as creative director under Director of Photography Bill Hannigan. Mailliet's last day at Corbis is Friday, after which she'll take a one-month vacation before starting at Getty as Director of Photography for Exclusives for the Americas.

Hannigan is also leaving Corbis of his own accord, but he has yet to decide what his next job in the photography world will be. "I'm going to take a little time with the family," says Hannigan, who has a wife and two young children. "It seems like a good time to step out while the going is great. ... It was a great time here and Outline has some of the best people and the best photographers in the world."

In an email sent to Corbis employees earlier today from Gary Shenk, Corbis' senior VP for images, Shenk credited Hannigan with helping turn Outline around in 2002 when it was "facing increased competition and declining revenues."

Shenk said in the e-mail that he is "actively recruiting for both a Vice President for Entertainment to run the group, and a Director of Photography, Entertainment to aggressively develop a competitive red carpet offering."

Poaching employees has long been common practice between the two competing companies, but in the last couple of years Corbis has gone through several rounds of restructuring. Getty, by comparison, has remained relatively stable and has taken advantage by hiring several highly regarded former Corbis staffers.

David Laidler, currently Getty's director of photography for editorial, and Pancho Bernasconi, director of photography for news for the Americas, left Corbis in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Christina Cahill, a widely respected photographer's representative at Corbis who left in one of the latest rounds of restructuring, recently began working part-time for Getty's Exclusive division.

For her part, Mailliet has nothing but good things to say about Outline, praising the "great team" there and saying the decision to leave wasn't taken lightly.

"This is my opportunity to build something from the ground up at a company that's very stable," Mailliet says. "Getty is really exciting and inspiring right now."

Mailliet said her and Hannigan's nearly simultaneous departures were "completely coincidental" and not part of a restructuring, adding, "[Corbis] seems really committed to entertainment."