The failure of the first major merger in the industry has led to the end of a company that was designed to be the new high-quality image network Getty Images, the renowned professional image company, is about to become private due to its financial restructuring process. This process is due to the failure of its only previous merger, the sharing with Shutterstock. Getty Images' decision to enter into a financial restructuring process is mainly due to the company's economic difficulties.

Getty Images' concerns have been made clear by the failure of a merger with Shutterstock, which aimed to join forces with one of the first professional image companies. Additionally, Getty Images received $533 million in funding from the Getty family and investor Charles Koch, who established the terms of a financial restructuring agreement. This agreement envisages an 'early bankruptcy' procedure (Chapter 11) and the ultimate goal is to ensure that Getty Images is completely acquired by Getty family members. The failure of Getty Images has had significant consequences even within the professional image sector.

Parents of Getty have declared that their product is 'an undisputed leader of premium visual content', but the AI environment generator that allows users to create personalized images quickly has not been sufficiently supported by Getty. Getty sought to resolve its economic difficulties through a $533 million financing, but this was not enough to save the company. The latest information we have about Getty Images' destination is that it is privatizing and possibly merging with Koch Equity Development, a holding company of investments of Charles Koch. Getty Images' decision to become private has also been influenced by generative AI pressure, which has made it necessary to make radical changes in the corporate structure to avoid further legal problems.

Getty has rejected a merger with Shutterstock in June, in response to the UK Competition Authority's restrictions on the merger between two professional image companies. Additionally, Getty received $3.7 billion in funding from Shutterstock in July, but this was rejected by the US Antitrust Office, which had previously granted an 'unconditional' authorization for the merger contract. This led to a series of historical events such as the US Antitrust Office's decision to grant an 'unconditional' authorization for the merger contract between two professional image companies. END SOURCES