Public (NYSE: GETY); Shutterstock merger terminated Jul 2026
Live Β· GETYΒ· NYSE
as of 2026-09-21
$0.233βΌ 2.02% today
βΒ $96.7 Million market cap Β· β98.1% from peak
The rise & fall
8 moments Β· 1995β2026
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
1995
π±
1995
Founded in London
Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein set out to consolidate the fragmented stock-photo business.
Wikipedia
Jul 2022
π
Jul 2022
The peak: a ~$5B SPAC return$5B
The stock-media stalwart comes back to public markets; the debut pop values it around $5B.
CNBC
2022
π
2022
Slips out of the club
The post-SPAC pop fades fast as the debt load and generative-AI worries weigh on the stock.
stockanalysis.com
Jan 2023
Jan 2023
Sues Stability AI
Getty accuses the Stable Diffusion maker of copying millions of its images β the AI threat goes to court.
Reuters
2022β25
π¬
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022β25
Glassdoor reviews echoed the pressure from inside: employees flagged the threat from AI image generators, described leadership as cautious and slow to modernize, and said the return to public markets brought tighter cost-cutting β trimmed commissions and quiet layoffs β plus uncertainty around the pending Shutterstock deal.
Jan 2025
Jan 2025
The Shutterstock merger deal
A planned tie-up would create a roughly $3.7B combined company.
Reuters
Jul 7 β26
Jul 7 β26
Merger terminated
The deal dies after the UK's CMA conditions clearance on selling Shutterstock's editorial arm β a condition Getty's board refuses.
Reuters
Today
Today
Still in the club β and still trading
Live Β· GETY Β· NYSEas of 2026-09-21
$0.233βΌ 2.02% todayβ $96.7M cap Β· β98.1% from peak
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Getty Images, a longtime stock-media and editorial-photo licensor, returned to public markets via SPAC in 2022 at a valuation around $5B. Debt load, secular pressure on stock imagery, and concerns about generative AI weighed on the stock; its July 2026 market-cap estimate of about $0.30B was roughly 94% below that peak.
That merger, agreed in January 2025 to create a roughly $3.7B combined company, was terminated on July 7, 2026 after the UK's Competition and Markets Authority conditioned clearance on Getty selling Shutterstock's editorial business β a condition Getty's board refused.
