Getty Images and Shutterstock, two of the top photo, video, and stock image marketplaces, called off a $3.7 billion merger after hitting a regulatory roadblock in the United Kingdom.
Getty, led by CEO Craig Peters, said on Tuesday that its board of directors unanimously decided to scuttle the deal to merge with its rival after the top regulator in the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority, required the sale of Shutterstock’s editorial business.
Getty’s board viewed that requirement as an apparent non-starter, per a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The board also stated it intends to hire a financial advisor to assess “strategic financing alternatives available” in its next steps.
Getty provides wire service images and video to media and businesses globally, including for most red carpets and film festival premieres. A merger with rival Shutterstock, which had touted an image library of 450 million photos, was intended to consolidate the marketplace for editorial and stock visuals. The combined company, which would’ve been led by Peters, had projected cost synergies of between $150 million and $200 million within three years after it combined operations.
The move is illustrative of the type of power that U.K.’s top regulator wields and how it can shape a deal or force it in a direction to be scuttled. And in Getty’s case that was a year and a half after the merger with Shutterstock was unveiled. That sort of regulatory machination is of real interest to Hollywood of late, as David Ellison looks to consolidate the industry’s major studios in his own megadeal.
Earlier on June 30, Lisa Nandy, who holds the title of U.K. Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, indicated that the British government may choose to intervene in Paramount’s $111 billion takeover attempt of Warner Bros. Discovery. Nandy stated the next stage may be “for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess and report to me on whether a relevant merger situation has been created, and any impact this may have on competition.”
The Ellison-led Paramount replied that it believes it will close its deal on its previously stated timeline without hitting its own speed bump. “We are grateful for the continued constructive engagement with all interested government bodies and relevant authorities, including in the UK,” a Paramount rep said. “We are confident that our proposed transaction does not pose any media plurality issues in the UK and remain confident in our stated transaction timeline.”
The Competition and Markets Authority formally opened its review on June 10 and has set an Aug. 7 deadline for a ruling on the Paramount deal.
As for Getty Images, days before it called off the Shutterstock deal, the image giant inked a major pact with OpenAI to license its library across ChatGPT. The initial merger agreement with Shutterstock, unveiled in January 2025, was inked as those platforms were grappling with the emergence of artificial intelligence tools. Now Getty has taken a new path.
