Getty Images has announced that it will terminate its proposed $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock after determining that conditions imposed by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) were unacceptable.
The merger, first announced in January 2025, would have combined two of the world's largest licensed visual content companies under Getty Images Holdings, Inc., with Getty Images CEO Craig Peters leading the combined business. The transaction had been positioned as a strategic response to a rapidly evolving visual content market, including growing competition from AI-generated imagery.
According to Getty Images, its Board of Directors unanimously decided to end the transaction after the CMA required Shutterstock to divest its editorial business as a condition of approving the merger in the United Kingdom.
The CMA's independent inquiry group concluded that combining the two companies without such a divestiture could reduce competition in the supply of editorial images to UK news organisations. The regulator found that Shutterstock is one of the few significant competitors to Getty Images in the editorial licensing market and that the merger could reduce customer choice and potentially lead to higher prices.
Getty Images stated that it intends to formally terminate the merger following the extended deadline of 6 July 2026.
The proposed transaction had already received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year. However, Getty Images concluded that the CMA's requirement to sell Shutterstock's editorial business was not an acceptable basis on which to proceed.
In addition to terminating the merger, Getty Images said its Board intends to engage a financial adviser to evaluate strategic financing alternatives for the company.
The decision comes at a time when the licensed visual content industry continues to face increasing competitive pressure from AI image generation technologies. When the merger was originally announced, both companies described the transaction as an opportunity to strengthen their position in an evolving market, expand their content offerings and invest in new technologies.
No statement has been issued by Shutterstock regarding the termination of the merger.