An image by Richard Prince has beaten the record for a photograph sold at auction, selling for $3.4 million at Sotheby's in New York. The previous record had been held by Andreas Gursky for a diptych print that sold for $3.3 million at Sotheby's in London.

The untitled work comes from Prince's "Marlboro Man" series, in which the artist had captured images of cowboys from Marlboro cigarette ads. The image, one of two editions, measures 100 by 66 inches.

Prince was also the first photographer to break the $1 million barrier for a single photo, auctioning another cowboy...

World Picture Network discontinued its daily photo feed as of Feb. 1 in an effort to modify its strategy in the crowded photo distribution industry. The company will, instead, focus its resources on its growing photo assignment business.

While layoffs at WpN are imminent, the network will also add editors to manage the market demand for assignments to its freelance photographers.

WpN's photo feed featured daily coverage of the world's events. CEO Brian Miller said that the service was "not economically viable" given the state of the industry. Miller also noted that assignments are the company's most rapidly growing...

Market rumors were ignited in January, claiming that Seattle-based Getty Images, the world's leading distributor of visual content, had put itself on the market, with offers pending, mostly from private-equity firms, that could total $1.6 billion.

The New York Times first broke the story Jan. 21 with information from "people briefed on the situation" and listed Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bain Capital as interested parties.

Getty Images responded with a release stating that its policy is to neither confirm nor deny market rumors, but it did announce that it is "exploring strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value." The release also stated...