Getty ends Shutterstock merger after UK regulator demands divestiture

Getty Images is moving to terminate its $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock after the UK Competition and Markets Authority required Shutterstock to divest its global editorial business, a condition Getty said it was not required to accept.

The decision puts one of the biggest proposed deals in stock media on track to collapse. The transaction was announced in January 2025, and it had already cleared U.S. antitrust review in February 2026, when the Department of Justice granted unconditional approval.

Getty’s board unanimously voted to end the agreement unless circumstances materially change before July 7, 2026. The company said termination would take effect on July 6 if nothing changes.

Why the deal fell apart

The split came from the UK review process, not the U.S. one. Getty and Shutterstock had continued working through British regulatory review after getting the DOJ clearance, but the CMA’s remedy went further than Getty was willing to accept.

According to reporting and Getty’s filing, the UK regulator wanted Shutterstock to sell its global editorial business. That package includes editorial assets such as Backgrid and Splash, which are part of Shutterstock’s broader content operation.

Getty said in its SEC filing that it is not obligated to accept those approval conditions. That position effectively left the companies with no path to close the original agreement on the terms the UK regulator set.

From merger of equals to termination

The companies initially described the transaction as a merger of equals. The logic was straightforward: combine two major stock-image libraries and broader content businesses into a larger platform with more licensing reach and more negotiating power.

That strategic case was built in part around the pressures facing the stock-media industry. The companies have been dealing with changing customer demand and AI-driven competition, which made scale and content depth more important.

The merger also had a clear regulatory milestone sequence. The deal announcement came in January 2025. U.S. antitrust clearance followed in February 2026. The UK review then became the limiting factor.

The result is a deal that cleared one major jurisdiction and stalled in another. In practice, that mismatch proved fatal once the CMA tied approval to a divestiture Getty would not accept.

Business and market stakes

The collapse matters because the transaction was valued at $3.7 billion and would have reshaped a significant corner of the licensing and stock-media market. It also would have changed how two of the industry’s biggest players competed against each other and against newer AI-era rivals.

For Shutterstock, the news hit immediately in the market. Shares fell sharply after reporting on the termination move, reflecting investor concern that the merger premium and expected strategic benefits may disappear.

For Getty, the termination removes the need to accept a remedy it viewed as too burdensome. But it also leaves the company facing the same competitive pressures that made the deal attractive in the first place.

What comes next

The next concrete milestone is Getty’s formal termination notice and any follow-up statements from either company. Getty’s board has already authorized the move, but the agreement could still change if circumstances materially change before July 7, 2026.

It remains unclear whether Getty or Shutterstock will pursue a revised structure, an asset sale, or some other standalone alternative. No replacement transaction has been announced.

It is also possible the UK CMA will publish additional reasoning or a final decision document. For now, the clearest fact is that the merger appears to have been broken by the UK side of the antitrust review after U.S. regulators had already approved it.