Getty Images Ends $3.7 Billion Shutterstock Merger

Getty Images has terminated its planned $3.7 billion merger with rival Shutterstock after British regulators imposed conditions the companies found unacceptable, effectively ending a deal that would have created a dominant force in the visual content market. The decision was announced in a regulatory filing on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

The merger, first announced in January 2025, was intended to combine the companies' vast photo and video libraries to better compete against the rising tide of AI-generated imagery. The new entity was to be named Getty Images Holdings Inc. and led by Getty CEO Craig Peters, who had previously called the deal "transformational."

While the U.S. Department of Justice granted the merger unconditional antitrust clearance earlier this year, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) took a different stance. In May, the CMA announced it would not approve the merger unless Shutterstock sold its entire global editorial business, which includes paparazzi and news photo agencies such as Backgrid and Splash. The regulator stated that a loss of competition between the two companies would reduce choice for U.K. media outlets and could lead to...