Getty Images plans to file for bankruptcy and go private, ending its bid to merge with Shutterstock.
The stock-photo giant said Monday it has lined up $533 million from the Getty family and Charles Koch's investment firm to slash its debt load. The money will fund a prepackaged Chapter 11 process, a faster, negotiated version of bankruptcy that Getty expects to wrap by the end of the year. The move follows the collapse earlier this year of its planned merger with rival Shutterstock. Getty says contributors, partners, customers, and employees should see no disruption throughout the process.
A prepackaged Chapter 11 lets a company restructure its balance sheet without the chaos of a full-blown bankruptcy fight, and going private strips away the quarterly pressure that comes with public ownership. For Getty, saddled with debt since its 2022 SPAC merger, that's a reset button rather than a rescue mission.
Shutterstock, for its part, is still a public company looking for its next move now that its biggest potential merger partner just chose a different exit.