He was the overlord of the photo gallery! Getty Images was defeated by AI and its market value evaporated by more than 99%, and it fell into an existential crisis

Getty Images, once the overlord of photo galleries, has experienced a sharp decline in business volume and a severe decline in market value due to the rise of generative AI.

Getty Images, once the overlord of photo galleries, has seen a sharp decline in its business volume due to the ease of obtaining AI-generated images in recent years. Even its stock price has been miserable. It closed at only $0.042 last week, a 47.3% drop in a single day. Because the stock price was too low, Getty Images was delisted from the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and transferred to the over-the-counter market (OTC), and is seeking to reorganize its capital structure. It is no longer the glory it once was.

Getty Images is a world-renowned image trading and archive company founded in 1995 and headquartered in the United States. Its main business is to provide professional photography photos, illustrations, videos, music and royalty-free materials. Its customers include global media, advertising agencies and creative professionals.

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However, the rise of generative AI, which allows users to create their own images in seconds, has seriously shaken the scarcity and licensing core values of traditional photo galleries. Coupled with factors such as market competition and high debt, Getty Images' performance has declined significantly.

Getty originally planned to bid for a US$3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock, but was required by the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that Shutterstock must sell its editorial content business. Getty assessed that the relevant regulatory conditions were too stringent and gave up, causing Getty to announce the termination of the transaction at the end of June.

Getty's closing price last week was only US$0.042, and its market value also shrank significantly to US$17.42 million, a far cry from the US$2.14 billion it once had in 2023. Its total liabilities are as high as approximately US$2 billion.

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