The companies initially agreed to the deal to counter AI-driven competition.
Getty Images has moved to terminate a $3.7 billion merger with rival Shutterstock due to restrictions imposed by UK regulators, The Wall Street Journal reported. The canceled agreement between the two stock photography leaders underscores that U.S. regulatory approval alone is not always sufficient to complete a major deal.
Getty and Shutterstock announced the planned merger back in January 2025, aiming to create a dominant stock photography company capable of responding to anticipated competition from AI-generated imagery. The combined entity would have operated under the name Getty Images Holdings Inc. and was described as "transformational" by Getty CEO Craig Peters.
The U.S. Department of Justice had already granted "unconditional antitrust clearance" for the deal earlier this year. However, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced in May that it would not approve the merger unless Shutterstock divested its global editorial business—including its celebrity and news photo agencies. The authority stated that "a loss of competition between the two businesses would reduce choice for UK media outlets and could lead to higher prices."
Given these conditions, Getty’s board unanimously decided "not to proceed with the process to sell Shutterstock's editorial business... and to terminate the merger agreement," according to its SEC filing. As a result, the deal is now effectively terminated, pending any "material change in the aforementioned circumstances" before July 7th.
Both Getty and Shutterstock recently signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, enabling their watermarked images to appear in ChatGPT search results. Despite their widespread presence on social media, major news and media websites have largely avoided using AI-generated imagery to date. The UK’s intervention also highlights potential regulatory risks facing Paramount Global’s blockbuster Warner Bros. Discovery merger—despite having received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The companies initially agreed to the deal to counter AI-driven competition. Getty Images has terminated its $3.7 billion merger with rival Shutterstock following regulatory restrictions imposed by UK authorities, according to The Wall Street Journal. This canceled agreement between the two stock photography leaders underscores that U.S. regulatory approval alone is not always sufficient to complete a major deal.
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