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# Getty Images files for bankruptcy under plan giving Getty family and Koch ownership
- URL: https://www.urgentmatter.press/getty-images-files-for-bankruptcy-under-plan-giving-getty-family-and-koch-ownership/
- Published: 2026-10-24T02:49:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:49:03.000Z
- Description: The stock photo company told contributors in an email that this month's royalties should be released by October 30.
- Author: Adam Schrader
- Tags: Labor and Capital, #public-access

Getty Images filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Wednesday under a plan that would transfer ownership of the stock photo company to the Getty family and Koch Equity Development and cancel its public shares.

The family and Koch affiliates committed up to $533 million in new equity, Getty said in a [news release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1898496/000121390026111193/ea030922501ex99-2.htm?ref=urgentmatter.press). Major lenders [signed on to the plan](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1898496/000121390026108700/ea030834301ex99-1.htm?ref=urgentmatter.press) on October 12, and Getty expects to finish the process by year-end.

"Today's filing is a procedural step to implement the financial restructuring previously announced," said Craig Peters, chief executive of Getty Images.

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Getty told photographers and videographers who license work through it that the filing would not change their agreements, royalty rates or contributor terms, in an email sent Wednesday morning and reviewed by Urgent Matter.

"There is no impact to content submissions, content licensing activities, contributor support, or royalty payments," the company said in the email.

The email said contributors can expect this month's royalties by October 30 and that Kroll, the firm handling notices, will send a legal notice soon. Contributors do not need to take any action, Getty said.

Getty works with over 600,000 content creators. Its library holds more than 662 million creative and editorial images and videos, plus an archive of over 150 million historical photographs, the company's [disclosure statement](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1898496/000121390026111193/ea030922501ex99-1.htm?ref=urgentmatter.press) shows.

Getty Images Holdings and six U.S. subsidiaries filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, records show. A Koch affiliate will lend the company up to $143 million to keep operating during the case. The loan would convert to stock when the company leaves bankruptcy, the disclosure statement shows.

The Getty family and Koch would own the reorganized company except for a stock plan for managers of up to 10%, the disclosure statement shows. Getty's Class A shares were already delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and now trade over the counter, the company said.

Holders of $270 million in unsecured notes would split about $170.2 million in cash, an estimated 63% recovery on principal. Secured lenders outside the investor group would swap their loans and notes for new debt of the same face value. Getty said the plan would wipe out more than $500 million in debt.

Lenders holding about 90% of the secured debt, all of the company's revolving credit lenders, and holders of about 83% of the unsecured notes have agreed to vote for the plan. Voting closes November 30.

Getty told the court its troubles came from three events outside its day-to-day business. 

These included more than $200 million in judgments and interest from lawsuits by former warrant holders, the collapse of its $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock, and about $239 million a year in debt payments on a capital structure Getty said was built only to carry it until the merger closed.

Getty said the trends affecting its iStock brand and its advertising agency customers "are manageable and would not alone have necessitated" the bankruptcy.

The company walked away from the Shutterstock deal on July 7 after Britain's Competition and Markets Authority required the sale of Shutterstock's editorial business, [Urgent Matter previously reported](https://www.urgentmatter.press/getty-images-abandons-shutterstock-merger-over-u-k-divestiture-demand/). Getty spent about $60.4 million on the failed merger through June 30, its [quarterly report](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1898496/000162828026055246/gety-20260630.htm?ref=urgentmatter.press) shows.

On April 23, Getty paid $110.9 million to cover a federal judgment and interest won by former warrant holders Alta Partners and CRCM Institutional Master Fund. On July 27, a New York state judge ordered judgments totaling $67.8 million, plus 9% annual interest, for other former holders. Getty appealed.

Under the plan, the court would cancel all remaining warrant claims without payment, the same treatment as Getty's stock.

Revenue fell 2.5% to $229.1 million in the three months ended June 30, the quarterly report shows. Interest expense rose to $57.3 million from $36.6 million a year earlier. Getty lost $85.8 million in the quarter and said there was substantial doubt it could continue operating.

The same report lists generative artificial intelligence tools among the risks that could harm Getty's brand, reputation, business or intellectual property. It also says Getty earns revenue by giving customers access to its data and content to train machine learning and generative artificial intelligence models.

Getty Images (US), Inc., one of the companies in bankruptcy, is the plaintiff in Getty's copyright suit against Stability AI in the Northern District of California over about 12 million images allegedly copied to train the Stable Diffusion image generator. 

The two sides were exchanging evidence as of the report, and an appeal in Getty's parallel British case is expected to be heard in November.

Getty has also signed display deals putting its photos inside ChatGPT and Perplexity, [Urgent Matter previously reported](https://www.urgentmatter.press/getty-images-licenses-content-openai-three-years-after-suing-ai-rival/).

Getty has asked the court to approve the plan at a December 14 hearing. As of Wednesday afternoon, the case website shows that no first hearing on the company's opening requests, including the Koch loan, had been scheduled.

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