{"id":11949,"date":"2026-10-15T05:03:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/15\/getty-images-going-private-following-collapse-of-shutterstock-deal-and-rise-of-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T05:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:03:03","slug":"getty-images-going-private-following-collapse-of-shutterstock-deal-and-rise-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/15\/getty-images-going-private-following-collapse-of-shutterstock-deal-and-rise-of-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Getty Images going private, following collapse of ShutterStock deal and rise of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tEditorial and stock photo agency will continue as usual, while Getty family and Koch investment company take full ownership<\/p>\n

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Getty Images<\/a> has said it plans to go through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process as a step to being taken private by members of the Getty family and Koch Inc\u2019s investment arm, who will together invest up to $533M in the business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\u201cUnder the Plan, vendors will be unaffected and paid in full in the ordinary course of business,\u201d the company said: \u201cThere is no anticipated impact on content contributors, partners, customers, or employees across the Company\u2019s worldwide network.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stock image library had given up on its attempts to buy rival ShutterStock after the UK competition body<\/a> forced revisions to the deal. The heavily indebted company has now been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange<\/a> and its two largest shareholders say they\u2019ve developed a plan to take the company private.<\/p>\n

Although the company said it expects a reduction in revenue from its iStock division, \u201cdue to reduced eCommerce
demand,\u201d it said it still expects to see growth in its editorial business that provides images to news outlets.<\/p>\n

This plan, if approved by the remaining creditors, will be implemented via a \u201cprepackaged\u201d Chapter 11 bankruptcy: a mechanism by which a company can be significantly reorganized, overseen by a bankruptcy court but under the control of the existing owners, in order to remain as a going concern. Some existing lenders have agreed to write-down and restructure some of the company\u2019s debts as part of the process, and the company confirmed \u201cthe requisite majority of creditors have committed to vote in favor of the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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It says the restructuring process should be complete by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

News agency (and competitor) Reuters reports that competition from AI-generated imagery and heavy debt have played a role in the move. It highlighted that the company\u2019s total debt was around $2.1B at the end of June, whereas its market valuation had slipped to just under $21M when markets closed last Friday. The company\u2019s revenue estimate for 2026 is $920M.<\/p>\n

In an accompanying financial update, Getty Images said it had spent around $105M on the failed ShutterStock acquisition, along with $17M in ongoing costs relating to its copyright infringement cases against Stability AI, which it accuses of using its images to train an image generation model.<\/p>\n

About the Author: <\/span>Richard graduated as a scientist but had a lot more fun writing and shooting for his university magazine. A number of years spent variously as a reporter, writer and editor on science and engineering titles combined his knowledge of science with his interest in images and words. But it was spotting the connections between emission spectra, white balance and all the nonsense he\u2019d taught himself playing around in Photoshop that helped kindle an interest in digital photography. Searching for a camera led to him discovering DPReview and Richard was recruited by Phil Askey in 2007. He\u2019s been combining his love of photography, communication and attention to detail (pedantry?) ever since.<\/p>\n

He has unusually strong opinions about lenses for the APS-C format.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases?\u00a0Add DPReview as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.<\/p>\n

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