Visual content companies Shutterstock and Getty Images will join to become a $3.7 billion visual content company.

Getty Images and Shutterstock announced that the companies will merge and create a $3.7 billion 'premier visual content company.'

Getty Images Holdings Inc. agreed to acquire rival stock-photo provider Shutterstock Inc. in a deal that would create a combined company worth about $3.7 billion including debt.

We warn of disruption in the stock photo market as Getty Images and Shutterstock plan a risky merger with potential drawbacks. Read more on GETY and SSTK here.

Shutterstock are joining forces in a merger valued at around $3.7 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday. The merger will allow the companies to expand their stock photo libraries as they face increasing competition from AI-powered image creation tools.

Getty Images is the bigger company of the two, and its shareholders will own approximately 54.7% of the new entity, while Shutterstock shareholders will own 45.3%. Getty Images also owns the iStock and Unsplash brands. The company will simply be called Getty Images.

In total, Getty expects to pay $331 million plus 319.4 million shares of its stock to acquire Shutterstock. At today's share price, that works out to a valuation of about $1.35 billion on Shutterstock, or about 7% more than what Shutterstock costs after today's price spike.

The deal, presented as a merger of equals, will create a company worth $3.7Bn with annual revenue of around $2Bn.

Getty Images said on Tuesday it would merge with rival Shutterstock to create a $3.7 billion stock image powerhouse geared for the artificial intelligence era, in a deal that would likely draw antitrust scrutiny.

Getty Images & Shutterstock merge into a $3.7B media giant, combining their vast libraries & resources to redefine the visual content industry.

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