Initial Investigation / Reports Suggest liveBooks Might be in Trouble

UPDATED: LIVEBOOKS ACQUIRED.
ORIGINAL STORY: While we don't like to lean heavily on rumors, our own investigations are pointing to some validity with regards to Vincent Laforet's recent article regarding liveBooks. liveBooks is one of the staples of the industry, providing seriously high end, powerful and great websites to photographers worldwide. However, Vincent's sleuthing (backed up by some emails I just sent to liveBooks) hints that all might not be well in the kingdom.

Vincent says that "they are without CEO, and that there is no longer any staff in the USA – only a few staffers left overseas. The CEO Andy Patrick took liveBooks off of his LinkedIn Page and then put it back… none of the former employees I know have liveBooks listed on their LinkedIn Profiles anymore."

This seemed strange to us, and Vincent went on to suggest some options in case you have a liveBooks account and are seeking a contingency plan. Though I'm not prepared to go that far and suggest other website options, I did want to look into the situation. I met the entire liveBooks team at WPPI earlier this year, so I sent them an email a few minutes ago.

The emails all bounced back as undeliverable.

Not a good sign. It seems that Vincent's concerns might have some weight. I wanted to wait for someone to get back to me from liveBooks before writing this article, but seeing as the lights seem to be off over there, I wanted to let you all know the situation. If anything changes, we will update you immediately.

[Original story via Vincent Laforet]