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Getty Images CEO Craig Peters will oversee the company formed following Getty’s mergers with Shutterstock. (Getty Images Photo)
Seattle’s Getty Images is acquiring Shutterstock to create a business worth approximately $3.7 billion, the companies announced Tuesday.
The deal will merge two of the biggest businesses offering licensed images, videos and stock photos. The companies are increasingly competing against content created by artificial intelligence and the massive volume of photos shot by the general population on cell phone cameras.
Getty Images is expected to pay $331 million in cash and 319.4 million shares of its stock to make the purchase. The deal will give Getty Images shareholders about 54.7% of the combined company, with Shutterstock owning the remainder.
Getty Images brands also include iStock and Unsplash.
Getty Images CEO Craig Peters will oversee the newly merged visual media juggernaut.
Both companies have seen sharp declines in their stock prices over the past few years. Getty Images stock was trading at more than than $30 per share at a recent high in August 2022, but was just above $2 at the start of this year. Shutterstock was worth more than $122 per share at its high in November 2021, and was trading at $31 at the year’s start.
Getty Images was founded in 1995.
