Getty Images and Shutterstock have terminated their proposed $3.7 billion merger after the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority required the sale of Shutterstock’s editorial business as a condition of approval.
Getty’s board voted unanimously to abandon the transaction rather than proceed with the divestiture, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also said it plans to hire a financial adviser to evaluate strategic financing alternatives.
The merger, announced in January 2025, would have combined two of the largest providers of stock photography, video, and editorial imagery. Getty CEO Craig Peters was expected to lead the combined company, which projected $150 million to $200 million in cost savings within three years of closing.
The CMA’s demand targeted a central part of the proposed combination. Shutterstock’s editorial business competes directly with Getty in supplying news, entertainment, and event imagery to media companies and other commercial customers.
Getty ended the transaction days after signing a licensing agreement with OpenAI to make its image library available across ChatGPT. The companies did not disclose termination fees or other financial terms tied to the abandoned merger.
