Recent developments (2015–present)
In January 2015, Shutterstock acquired both Rex Features, Europe's largest independent photo press agency for $33 million, and PremiumBeat, a stock music and sound effects service, for $32 million. Penske Media Corporation formed a partnership with Shutterstock in June 2015 to create and license entertainment and fashion images. According to the terms of the deal, by 2016 Shutterstock would have an exclusive right and license to PMC's archive, which included magazines such as Variety, Women's Wear Daily, and Deadline. Crain's wrote that with the partnership, "Shutterstock, a provider of stock imagery and music tracks, is stepping into the world of red carpets and fashion runways—and taking a key provider of fashion and entertainment photos and video away from archrival Getty Images.".
By March 2016, the company had "over 100,000 contributors," with around 70 million images and 4 million video clips available for licensing and sale. That month Shutterstock announced it would be distributing material from the Associated Press in the United States, with the deal to last 3 years and cover 30 million photos and around 2 million videos. The photos were expected to go live in April. According to Entrepreneur, Shutterstock also had an "active customer base of 1.4 million people in 150 countries."
In July 2016, Shutterstock revealed a partnership with Google advertising products including AdSense, AdWords, and AdMob. The integration allows marketers creating Google ads to directly access Shutterstock images and track ad performance via the Shutterstock API. In October 2016, the firm announced a distribution deal with the European Pressphoto Agency.[6]
In February 2018, Shutterstock invested $15 million into China based ZCool,[7] building on the operational relationship the two firms have had since 2014 when ZCool first became the exclusive distributor of Shutterstock creative content in China.[7] Webdam, which Shutterstock itself acquired back in 2014, was sold to Amsterdam-based Bynder for $49.1 million to move Shutterstock's strategy away from digital asset management.[8] Shutterstock later entered into a partnership with Tencent Social Ads, the online advertising subsidiary of Tencent.
In May 2018, IBM's Watson Content Hub, a content management system (CMS) for marketers to create content using the IBM Watson AI search tool, announced its partnership with Shutterstock, beginning July 2018.
In May 2020, the company announced that it updated its contributor earnings structure as of June 1, from a minimum flat-rate to a percentage-based model. Contributor income may be reduced from the previous minimum payment per downloaded image of 25 cents to 10 cents, or 15 percent of sales, at the entry level, with author ratings reset to zero at the beginning of each year.[9] Many photographers voiced their opposition to the new changes.[10]
In May 2022, the company acquired Pond5, an online marketplace for royalty-free and editorial video, consisting of over 30 million video clips, 1.6 million music tracks, and 1.7 million sound effect assets at the time for $210M.[11][12] Also in May 2022, the company acquired Splash News, an entertainment news network for newsrooms and media companies.[13]
Shutterstock announced it would buy Giphy from Meta Platforms for $53 million in cash in May 2023, after Meta was ordered by UK's Competition and Markets Authority to divest it.[14][15]
In July 2023, Shutterstock announced a six-year partnership with OpenAI in which it would provide access to its audio, video and image libraries as training data for DALL-E. In turn, OpenAI would provide generative AI capabilities to Shutterstock's mobile users through Giphy database.[16][17]
Shutterstock announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Envato for $245 million in cash in May 2024, thus adding 650,000 Envato subscribers to its subscriber base and increasing its library of creative assets.[18] The acquisition was formally finalized at the end of July 2024.[19]
In January 2025, it was announced that the company would be merging with Getty Images.[20] The UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the proposed merger in August 2025.[21]
In February 2026, the United States Department of Justice granted unconditional antitrust clearance for the Getty Images merger.[22] Shutterstock reported record full-year 2025 revenue of $989.9 million, up 6% year-over-year, with record adjusted EBITDA of $271.8 million.[23]
