Getty Images and Shutterstock merge to form a $3.7 billion stock image giant

Getty Images announced Tuesday that it will merge with rival Shutterstock to form a formidable stock-image hub valued at $3.7 billion, in a merger that will help the firms traverse the age of artificial intelligence but is likely to face antitrust scrutiny.

Shutterstock shares rose 26.5% in premarket trade, while Getty Images rose 50.2%. Both companies’ shares have declined for at least the previous four years, as the increasing usage of smartphone cameras diminishes demand for stock photography.

According to the agreement, Shutterstock stockholders might receive $28.80 per share in cash, 13.67 Getty Images shares, or a combination of 9.17 Getty shares and $9.50 in cash for each Shutterstock share they own.

The move comes as the licensed visual content sector confronts competition from generative artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI’s Midjourney and DALL-E, which can generate images and films in response to basic text requests from users.