Today, January 7, 2025, a Press Release stumbled into my inbox, which gave me “a Bit of a DeJaVu”. In 2018 a couple of merges in the Duch Stock- & PressPhoto Market in were finalised, leaving PhotoJournalists & Contributing Photographers in many cases with rapidly declining sales and revenues. Monopolies of the merged or taken over agencies became to severe, thus increasing the difference in influence between the new agency, and its contributing photographers. Now, on a much larger scale, Getty Images & Shutterstock announced their plans to Merge and become one, huge corporation on a world wide sales market. Including the previously purchased brands, they are now able to dictate prices and royalties even more, sometimes going as low as $0,01 per image. This market power will increase a lot within the next year of so. Needless to say, this development will not draw happy faces with a lot of people involved, especially photographers and photojournalists, who are often dependent on their Sales & Royalties. They add photo press agencies themselves, who are no longer able to survive. It seems the only a strategy to deal with ongoing MayHem in the industry of stock- and press photography, is merge, take over or perish. Just some, will be able to merge. Trend is: Increasing Monopolies by Too large Enterprises and Visual Content Producers who cannot financially survive any longer. Read the horrifying Press Release below;
Start Press Release.
As Getty Images approaches our 30th anniversary, we are excited to share the news that Getty Images and Shutterstock have announced an agreement to merge. The company will operate under Getty Images Holdings, Inc. The official press announcement can be found here.
It’s important to note that it will take time for the transaction to close. The merger is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals and the approval of Getty Images and Shutterstock stockholders. As a result, the merger is not closed, and each company will continue to operate independently in the interim, and it will be business as usual with respect to your relationship with Getty Images.
We are undertaking this merger in large part because we expect it to provide expanded reach for your content, support for new asset types and formats and enhanced support and tools to manage your work.
We believe in creativity. We believe in the power of imagery. We believe pre‑shot solutions represent an efficient and powerful tool for our customers. We believe in the opportunity of AI, but the need to compensate creators for the use of their work. These beliefs will not change with the transaction.
Over the coming months, as we move to close, we are committed to sharing updates. We thank you for sharing your talent, content and trust with Getty Images and we look forward to providing expanded opportunities and capabilities going forward.
Craig Peters, CEO, Getty Images
End of Press Release.