The stock photo agency Getty Images has filed for bankruptcy, a procedure the source refers to as ‘Chapter 11’. Behind this court decision, one figure stands out: the company’s number of annual subscriptions has dropped from 321,000 to 241,000.
A court-supervised restructuring
Chapter 11 is a U.S. procedure that allows a company to continue operating while its debts are renegotiated under court supervision. Getty Images, iStock, and Unsplash therefore remain online. According to the source, the Getty family and Koch Equity Development are to own 100% of the company, with up to $533 million in new funding. Getty is leaving the stock market and becoming a private company, and current shareholders are not expected to recover anything. The company assures that contributors and clients will see no change and that payments will continue normally.
Declining subscriptions
The drop in subscriptions represents 80,000 fewer subscribers, a decrease of about 25%. Getty explains this is partly the result of a deliberate strategy, including ending iStock’s free trial. In its presentation to investors, however, the company acknowledges that its iStock business is experiencing a decline in demand and ‘disruption’.
The source notes that generative AI is primarily affecting the low end of the market, that of generic visuals used to illustrate an article, presentation, or advertisement. It cites ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Gemini, which can produce a custom image in seconds. This segment represented a significant portion of stock photo sales volume.
A bet on AI
Getty hasn’t just endured this shift; it has also tried to profit from it. As early as 2023, the agency launched its own image generator, trained exclusively on its catalog. In June 2026, a deal with OpenAI to display its photos in ChatGPT sent its stock soaring by up to 200%. Licenses for training models accounted for 4.4% of revenue in 2025.
The source emphasizes that these revenues remain limited compared to the flight of subscribers: a client who gets their image directly from a conversational assistant no longer has a reason to go to iStock’s website. In this context, Getty indicates it now wants to focus on its archives and on news photography. The source notes that AI does not replace a photographer present at a match, a parade, or a protest.
