Getty Images Delisted From the NYSE: What Has Happened, and How Its Photo Licenses Work
- The NYSE suspended trading in Getty Images Holdings (GETY) on September 29, 2026 and began delisting proceedings, citing an ‘abnormally low selling price.’ The stock has traded on the OTC Pink market since September 30, and the NYSE’s October 2 Form 25 sets formal removal for October 13, 2026.
- Getty paid interest on two unsecured note series on September 30, the last day of 30-day grace periods, and says no event of default occurred. As of October 3, 2026, the SEC’s filing list shows no Chapter 11 filing; Getty says it is evaluating strategic financing alternatives.
- The Getty-Shutterstock merger, announced in January 2025 at about $3.7 billion combined enterprise value, ended on July 7, 2026. The UK competition regulator had said it could proceed only if Shutterstock’s editorial business was sold, and Getty’s board chose not to run that sale.
- The June 30 quarterly filing’s debt table adds up to about $2.07 billion at face value, including $628.4 million of merger-related secured notes since redeemed from escrow. By our arithmetic about $1.44 billion remains before a $30 million July revolver draw. Cash was $51.6 million on June 30, and the filing carries going-concern language.
- Getty’s own help pages describe royalty-free licenses (pay once, reuse without further royalties, not free), rights-managed licenses (priced by how, where and how long you use a file) and restricted editorial use. Its Embed feature allows over 70 million photos on non-commercial sites.
- Bloomberg reported on September 28 that Getty is in confidential talks with lenders about new financing, possibly a bankruptcy loan. Getty’s filings confirm only a dialogue with debt and equity holders. This page forecasts nothing about the company’s future or what any outcome would mean for existing licenses.
The NYSE suspended trading in Getty Images Holdings (GETY) on September 29, 2026 and began delisting the stock, which has traded on the OTC Pink market since September 30; as of October 3, 2026, no Chapter 11 filing by Getty appears in SEC records. Getty is the Seattle-based licensor behind Getty Images, iStock and Unsplash.
This guide is pinned to Saturday, October 3, 2026. It reports what filings and regulators say, adds a short primer on Getty’s photo licenses, and makes no forecast about the stock, the company’s finances or any court case.
Is Getty Images officially delisted from the NYSE yet?
Not formally yet: NYSE trading has been suspended since September 29, 2026, and the NYSE’s October 2 Form 25 filing says it will remove the stock from listing and registration on October 13, 2026. Since September 30 the shares have traded on the OTC Pink Limited Market under GETY. On October 1 Getty said it does not intend to appeal and that the move will not affect its business operations.
The NYSE cited an “abnormally low selling price” (Section 802.01D of its Listed Company Manual). Neither it nor Getty’s filing states a price; press reports put the September 28 close at roughly 12 to 14 cents. That is separate from the $1.00 average-price standard, the subject of a notice Getty announced on March 19, 2026.
How did Getty get here?
The path runs from a blocked merger through a going-concern warning to a grace-period interest payment and the NYSE’s action. The dates come from Getty’s SEC filings, its newsroom and the UK regulator.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Jan 7, 2025 | Getty and Shutterstock announce a merger of equals (about $3.7B enterprise value) |
| May 15, 2026 | UK CMA final report: deal may proceed only if Shutterstock’s editorial business is sold |
| Jun 30, 2026 | Getty’s board decides not to run that sale |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Getty terminates the merger; the CMA calls it a commercial choice |
| Aug 10, 2026 | Q2 revenue $229.1M (down 2.5%); Getty gives no guidance; going-concern doubt disclosed |
| Aug 31, 2026 | Getty says it will use 30-day grace periods on Sept 1 interest for two unsecured note series |
| Sep 29, 2026 | NYSE suspends trading and starts delisting |
| Sep 30, 2026 | Interest paid on both series; no event of default; OTC Pink trading begins |
| Oct 1, 2026 | Getty will not appeal; Oct 8 annual meeting postponed |
Getty’s August 10 release cited pressure in its Agency and iStock e-commerce businesses; some commentary blames AI image generators, which we treat as analysis, not a finding in the filings. Moody’s cut its corporate family rating to Caa3 and S&P cut to CCC in early September, per wire reports.
How much debt does Getty have?
The June 30 quarterly filing’s debt table adds up to about $2.07 billion at face value, but $628.4 million of that was 10.5% secured notes the filing says have since been redeemed. Those notes, issued in October 2025 for the Shutterstock deal, sat in escrow (restricted cash was $646.3 million on June 30) and were redeemed from it. By our arithmetic the table leaves about $1.44 billion, before a further $30 million revolver draw in July. Cash was $51.6 million on June 30. Published totals of $1.3 billion, $1.47 billion and $2 billion appear to reflect different dates and what is counted, so we set no single debt figure against that cash balance.
The filing names three pressures on liquidity: litigation over warrants Getty redeemed in 2022 ($110.9 million paid in April 2026), $60.4 million of merger costs and merger-financing interest. Getty disclosed on August 28 a further state-court judgment, about $92.3 million with interest as of August 25 by the plaintiffs’ calculation, which it is appealing.
Has Getty Images filed for bankruptcy?
No: the SEC’s EDGAR filing list on October 3, 2026 shows no Chapter 11 filing; the newest items are Getty’s October 1 8-K and the NYSE’s October 2 Form 25. Getty says it and its advisors are evaluating strategic financing alternatives, including an active and progressing dialogue with key debt and equity holders; its August 31 filing named Guggenheim Securities as advisor and listed a potential capital solution from majority equity holders among the alternatives.
Bloomberg reported on September 28 that Getty is in confidential talks with lenders about new money, possibly a bankruptcy loan, and about lenders potentially taking control through a bankruptcy, with no final decision made. Getty’s filings do not confirm those details, and we predict no outcome.
What has Getty said about its business and customers?
Getty says the move off the NYSE will not affect its business operations, and on August 31 it said it had sufficient cash to meet its day-to-day obligations. Its newsroom posted partnership announcements through September 21. We found no Getty statement on how any financing outcome would affect existing customer licenses or its websites, and we do not predict one; check your own agreement.
How do Getty’s photo licenses work?
Every file from Getty comes with a license for specific uses; you do not own the file, and in most cases you must buy a license to use a Getty image. That comes from Getty’s own help center, read October 3, 2026; it covers gettyimages.com only, not iStock or Unsplash, and it is not advice.
| Model | Priced by | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty-free | File size | Pay once; not free |
| Rights-managed | Use, place, time | One project per license |
| Rights-ready | Usage factors | Video clips |
Royalty-free is not free: after one payment you can reuse the file as often as you like, worldwide, indefinitely, without a per-use royalty, under Getty’s content license agreement. Rights-managed terms depend on how, where and how long you use a file, and Getty says it no longer offers them for creative images. Editorial images are for editorial projects, with usage restrictions and approval needed for commercial uses. Embed, Getty’s free option, allows over 70 million photos on non-commercial websites, but not to sell a product, raise money, or promote or endorse something.
Where does Getty’s lawsuit against Stability AI stand?
Getty lost its secondary copyright infringement claim against Stability AI in the UK High Court in 2025 and was granted permission to appeal that point. Law-firm commentary says the court found trademark infringement only for older Stable Diffusion versions. Getty’s quarterly filing says the appeal is expected to be heard in November 2026, a date we could not confirm elsewhere.
What could still change?
Any Chapter 11 filing, financing deal or lender agreement would make this page stale at once. Also dated: the postponed October 8 annual meeting (no new date given), the NYSE’s October 13 removal date and the expected November appeal.
How we verified this
Primary filings were read in raw form on SEC EDGAR, not taken from summaries. That covers the 8-Ks filed June 30, July 7 (original and amendment), July 21, August 28, August 31, September 30 and October 1, the quarterly report for June 30, the August 28 proxy supplement, and the NYSE’s Form 25-NSE filed October 2. The EDGAR filing list was re-checked at about 2:20 p.m. Eastern on October 3, 2026: the newest items are the October 2 Form 25-NSE and the October 1 8-K, and no Chapter 11 petition or bankruptcy-related 8-K appears.
Company, regulator and licensing sources. Getty’s newsroom (August 10 results, the March 19 NYSE notice, the January 7, 2025 merger release), the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s July 7 statement, and Getty’s help-center page on licensing. Getty’s site redirects by region, so the English text was read on the Canadian copy of the same page; the 70 million photo Embed figure also matches the Hong Kong copy. The Stability AI points rest on law-firm summaries (permission to appeal; trademark findings limited to older Stable Diffusion versions) plus the company’s quarterly filing.
Where figures conflict, we followed the filing and said so. Debt: the quarterly filing’s table adds up to about $2.07 billion at face value, while published totals range from about $1.3 billion to about $2 billion, which appear to reflect different dates and what is counted. The $1.44 billion figure is our subtraction of the redeemed $628.4 million from that table, not a company figure. Share price: press reports of the September 28 close differ (about 12 cents and about 13.7 cents), and neither the NYSE notice nor Getty’s filings state a price, so a range is given with attribution. Ratings: wire reports date the Moody’s and S&P actions to September 3 while one other report says September 2, so the page says early September.
Bloomberg’s report is a relay. The original is paywalled; we saw its headline and republished summaries, so it is written as “Bloomberg reported”. Getty’s own filings confirm only a dialogue with debt and equity holders.
Items left out on purpose. Headlines calling the stock officially delisted before the NYSE’s stated October 13 removal date, and trade-press items about Shutterstock’s leadership and share price, were not used. One line in the company’s quarterly filing describing the December 2025 UK hearing does not match law-firm accounts of the Stability AI case and was not used. Board changes disclosed on July 21 and August 28 (two directors appointed, two resigned) were checked; no executive-officer departures were found, and none is reported here.
Still moving at write time. The situation was unresolved on October 3, 2026. The October 13 removal date, the postponed October 8 annual meeting and the November Court of Appeal date (stated only in the company’s own filing) could all change, and any Chapter 11 filing, financing deal or lender agreement would make the timeline and status sections stale.
No price forecasts, odds or predictions appear on this page. No share-price outlook, analyst price target, prediction-market price or betting odds is used, and nothing predicts a bankruptcy filing, a creditor outcome or what any restructuring would mean for customers’ licenses. No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page.