Getty Images may reconsider the scope of its operations in the United Kingdom if the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocks its proposed acquisition of Shutterstock, CEO Craig Peters has warned. His comments, reported by the Financial Times, come as the CMA conducts an in-depth Phase 2 review of the deal, which was announced in January.
Peters argued that the regulator is failing to account for the speed at which artificial intelligence is reshaping the image-generation market. According to Peters, preventing the takeover could prompt Getty to reduce investment in the UK or withdraw parts of its business. “There’s parts of these businesses that probably don’t continue to invest in the UK. There are pieces of this business that potentially exit [and] ultimately investments that aren’t going to be made,” he said.
Getty Images and Shutterstock, both US-listed companies, sell professional visual content and would have a combined value of approximately USD 3.7 billion. Earlier this month, the CMA referred the merger to a Phase 2 investigation, expressing concerns that the transaction could significantly lessen competition in the UK. Peters said the appeal process could cost the parties more than USD 50 million, despite the UK representing only a small part of their business.
The two companies face increasing competitive pressure from AI-based image-generation platforms capable of creating visuals from text prompts, as well as from alternative content providers such as Adobe and Canva. Peters argued that the merger would allow Getty and Shutterstock to build scale and compete more effectively in a rapidly evolving market. “This transaction is about taking a Shutterstock business that is in decline in terms of its licensing revenues and being impacted by AI, combining it with Getty and creating scale,” he said. “We can’t go buy a Google. We can’t go buy an OpenAI. And so we need to compete in a different way.”
In its Phase 1 findings, the CMA said evidence suggested that Getty and Shutterstock are each other’s closest competitors, alongside PA Media/Alamy and Adobe Stock. The regulator noted that the competitive strength of Canva was less clear. It also stated that market participants had raised concerns about potential impacts on UK news outlets and advertisers, including the possibility of higher subscription costs or reduced service quality.
Peters contended that the CMA is defining the market too narrowly and underestimating the immediate impact of AI technologies. He described AI-driven disruption as a transformative shift “larger than the internet, larger than digital photography, larger than social media.” The CMA, however, said it has not yet seen evidence that AI-generated images are currently, or soon will be, a significant substitute for traditional stock content.
Like other media groups, Getty is pursuing legal action against AI developers it accuses of misusing copyrighted material, including high-profile lawsuits against Stability AI in the US and the UK. The company also offers its own generative AI tools trained on licensed content.
The CMA’s final decision will determine whether the acquisition can proceed and, according to Peters, may also shape the future scale of Getty’s investment in the UK.