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Getty Abandons $3.7 Billion Shutterstock Deal Following UK Competition Ruling

By  |  July 2, 2026
Getty Images

Getty Images has abandoned its planned $3.7 billion acquisition of Shutterstock after determining that regulatory conditions imposed by the United Kingdom’s competition authority would fundamentally alter the economics of the transaction, ending a deal that had already secured clearance in the United States.

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    According to TechRepublic, which first reported the development in an article by Kezia Jungco, Getty’s board voted to terminate the merger after the UK’s competition watchdog required Shutterstock to divest its editorial business as a condition for approving the transaction. Getty said the required remedy would significantly diminish the strategic value of the acquisition.

    The merger, announced in January 2025, sought to combine two of the largest providers of licensed photos, videos, and other visual content. Both companies argued that greater scale would help them compete in a market increasingly challenged by generative artificial intelligence tools capable of producing images at lower cost.

    UK competition concerns centered on editorial content

    The transaction ultimately ran into opposition from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which conducted an in-depth review of the merger.

    Related: Britain Approves Getty’s $3.7 Billion Shutterstock Deal With Conditions

    The regulator concluded that Getty and Shutterstock were among the few significant competitors supplying editorial imagery to UK media organizations. In its investigation, the CMA found that combining the businesses without structural remedies could reduce customer choice and potentially lead to higher prices for editorial content used by news organizations.

    While the CMA conditionally approved the acquisition earlier this year, it required Shutterstock to sell its editorial business—including brands associated with celebrity and entertainment photography—to preserve competition in the UK market. Getty ultimately decided that accepting those conditions would undermine the transaction’s intended benefits.

    Divergent regulatory outcomes

    The failed transaction highlights how multinational mergers can receive different treatment from competition authorities in separate jurisdictions.

    Although the United States Department of Justice completed its review and granted unconditional antitrust clearance, UK regulators reached a different conclusion after focusing specifically on competition in the editorial news imagery market.

    The CMA’s published findings distinguished between two markets. Investigators concluded the merger was unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the global stock content business, where numerous competitors remain active, but found meaningful risks in the UK’s editorial content segment, where Getty and Shutterstock compete more directly.

    Source: TechRepublic