The union of the 2 main content material companies comes as synthetic intelligence is shaking up the picture market.
Getty Pictures introduced on Tuesday that it could purchase rival Shutterstock to create a $3.7bn (€3.6bn) visible content material firm.
Getty pays round $28.85 (€28) in money for every Shutterstock share, which means one Getty share is price round 13.67 of the rival shares.
Alternatively, Shutterstock shareholders can select to obtain a mixture of money and Getty shares.
Getty Pictures shareholders will personal about 54.7% of the mixed firm at closing and Shutterstock stockholders will personal the remainder.
Getty pays $331mn (€321mn) in money and 319.4 of its personal shares for the transaction.
Altering enterprise panorama
The merger comes at a time when firms that use nonetheless photographs are dealing with elevated competitors from photographs generated by synthetic intelligence.
The businesses mentioned on Tuesday that they’ve complementary portfolios and {that a} merger will present prospects with a broader array of nonetheless imagery, video, music, 3D and different media.
“With the speedy rise in demand for compelling visible content material throughout industries, there has by no means been a greater time for our two companies to return collectively,” Getty Pictures CEO, Craig Peters, mentioned in a ready assertion.
Peters will function CEO of the mixed enterprise.
“We’re excited by the alternatives we see to develop our artistic content material library and improve our product providing to fulfill numerous buyer wants,” Shutterstock CEO, Paul Hennessy, mentioned.
The mixed firm will function as Getty Pictures, and can proceed to commerce on the New York Inventory Alternate below the ‘GETY’ ticker image.
Its board may have 11 members, comprised of Peters, six administrators designated by Getty Pictures and 4 administrators designated by Shutterstock, together with Hennessy.
The chairman will likely be Mark Getty, present chairman of Seattle-based Getty Pictures.
Antitrust scrutiny
It’s doable that the merger will draw antitrust scrutiny because of the main function performed by each companies within the visible content material market.
Some analysts are subsequently viewing the deal as a litmus take a look at for the path of the brand new Trump administration on business consolidation.
Whereas Biden’s workforce blocked plenty of main mergers, some hope that the incoming president will likely be extra lenient.