Dell’s Magnum Opus

Michael Dell’s investment firm has bought almost 200,000 photos from the influential photo agency, Magnum Photos. From India, only Raghu Rai has made it to the hallowed portal.

Billionaire Michael Dell’s investment firm, MSD, has bought almost 200,000 photos from photo agency, Magnum Photos. The Magnum archives contain some of the most iconic images of the past 60 years, including those of the Kennedy funeral and Marilyn Monroe. Though details of the deal have not been announced, it is known that the archive was insured for more than $100 million. Magnum Photos was started as a co-operative in 1947 by four photographers—Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David ‘Chim’ Seymour and George Rodger—as an agency free of the influence of middlemen. From India, only Raghu Rai has made it to the hallowed Magnum portal. In recent years, the agency has had financial troubles, as its traditional clients, newspapers and magazines, have had revenue worries of their own.

Magnum PhotosMichael DellRaghu Rai