Getty Images Holdings Inc. (GETY)
🔔 Watch stock
symbol.quality_heading
We found at least one documented issue that threatens the company itself — regardless of how the stock is currently valued.
Whoever holds this share owns the narrow slice of equity above about $1.33 billion of remaining debt and a $205.3 million litigation reserve — and is betting that a picture library shrinking by roughly 110,000 paying customers in two years still outlasts coupons of 10.5 and 11.25 percent. Whoever buys today is buying that leverage deliberately: at about 4.7 times adjusted EBITDA the enterprise is not expensive, and every dollar of debt reduction lands on a $264 million equity base — which is exactly why it cuts both ways. What both need to watch is not the courtroom but the next quarters: whether Creative stops falling currency-neutral, and what the financial advisor hired on July 7, 2026 comes back with. The decision is yours.
symbol.quality_note
Getty Images is the company suing the AI industry for copying its pictures — and it sells its archive to that same industry for model training, while generative AI eats into the segment that makes up 56.7 percent of its revenue. We read the annual report (10-K) for 2025, the quarterly report (10-Q) as of March 31, 2026 and the two current reports (8-K) from the end of the Shutterstock merger: the licensing business earns $320.9 million of adjusted EBITDA, and the interest on the de-SPAC debt takes more than the entire operating profit. Not investment advice — just a careful look at what happens when the plaintiff and the defendant need the same technology.
Read the analysis
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 16, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at GETY since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 7 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Sells AIGetty Images ist zugleich Kläger gegen Stability AI und KI-Anbieter — die Vorrang-Regel (verkauft > bedroht) entscheidet für „verkauft“, weil die Filings KI ausdrücklich als Umsatzquelle ausweisen: Die Erlösnote des 10-K 2025 nennt Umsätze aus der Überlassung von Daten und Inhalten für maschinelles Lernen und das Training generativer KI-Modelle; Item 1 beschreibt „Generative AI by Getty Images“ (2023) und „Generative AI by iStock“ (2024) als eigene, kommerziell abgesicherte Text-zu-Bild-Dienste. Am 21.06.2026 kam eine mehrjährige Display-Partnerschaft mit OpenAI hinzu (8-K vom 22.06.2026): Gettys lizenzierte Inhalte erscheinen in den Such- und Entdeckungsfunktionen von ChatGPT. Alle diese Erlöse laufen in der Produktlinie „Other“ (2025: 54,8 Mio. $ = 5,6 % des Umsatzes). Wichtig für die Einordnung, ohne die Kategorie zu ändern: Die Risk Factors benennen generative KI zugleich als konkrete Bedrohung des eigenen Modells — KI-Bilder könnten lizenzierte Inhalte direkt ersetzen; das KI-exponierte Segment Creative (2025: 56,7 % des Umsatzes) fiel in Q1 2026 währungsbereinigt um 8,0 %. „Verkauft“ beschreibt hier also eine belegte, aber kleine Umsatzquelle, die einem ungleich größeren Bedrohungsbild gegenübersteht.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„The Company also generates revenue by providing customers with access to its data and content for machine learning and generative artificial intelligence model training uses."
Das Unternehmen erzielt zudem Umsätze, indem es Kunden Zugang zu seinen Daten und Inhalten für Zwecke des maschinellen Lernens und des Trainings generativer Modelle künstlicher Intelligenz gewährt.
„As part of these efforts, in 2023 we launched Generative AI by Getty Images and in early 2024 Generative AI by iStock, which are designed to be commercially-safe AI text to image generation services, available on gettyimages.com and istock.com."
Im Rahmen dieser Bemühungen haben wir 2023 „Generative AI by Getty Images“ und Anfang 2024 „Generative AI by iStock“ eingeführt — kommerziell abgesicherte KI-Dienste zur Text-zu-Bild-Erzeugung, verfügbar auf gettyimages.com und istock.com.
„Generative AI technologies also have the potential to create images and videos that directly compete with or substitute for our licensed content. As these technologies become more accessible and capable, customers may opt for AI generated content that bypasses traditional licensing models, impacting our revenue and market position."
Generative KI-Technologien haben zudem das Potenzial, Bilder und Videos zu erzeugen, die unmittelbar mit unseren lizenzierten Inhalten konkurrieren oder diese ersetzen. Da diese Technologien zugänglicher und leistungsfähiger werden, könnten Kunden sich für KI-generierte Inhalte entscheiden, die klassische Lizenzmodelle umgehen — mit Folgen für unseren Umsatz und unsere Marktposition.
„There can be no assurance that we will be successful in these cases, or in preventing other generative AI developers or technologies from using our content without authorization or fair compensation."
Es kann nicht zugesichert werden, dass wir in diesen Verfahren erfolgreich sein werden oder dass wir andere Entwickler generativer KI bzw. deren Technologien daran hindern können, unsere Inhalte ohne Genehmigung oder angemessene Vergütung zu nutzen.
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-03-16 · 10-K/A 2026-04-27 · 10-Q 2026-05-11 · 8-K 2026-06-22 · 8-K 2026-07-07 · 8-K 2026-07-21
Rated on July 28, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Analysts & Price Target
No price target is available for this stock.
- Consensus
- Sell
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Next Reporting Date
- Expected Earnings per Share
- 0.01 $
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q2 | 0.01 | 200.00 | 229 | 1.50 | 1.70 | 46 | 31 |
| 2024: Q3 | 0.04 | 33.30 | 241 | 4.90 | -0.90 | 11 | -2 |
| 2024: Q4 | 0.02 | -77.40 | 247 | 9.50 | 9.90 | 40 | 25 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.14 | -1,500.00 | 224 | 0.80 | -45.80 | 15 | 0 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.05 | 400.00 | 235 | 2.50 | -14.90 | 7 | -10 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.08 | 100.00 | 240 | -0.20 | 9.30 | 23 | 8 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.01 | -149.30 | 282 | 14.10 | -32.20 | 21 | 8 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.02 | 85.70 | 227 | 1.10 | -1.80 | 39 | 23 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
The core business earns: $981.3 million of revenue in 2025 at $320.9 million of adjusted EBITDA — a 32.7 percent margin — and $261.3 million after capital expenditure. Editorial ($369.6 million, +6.9 percent in 2025, +7.1 percent currency-neutral in Q1 2026) sells photographs of events that happened and is structurally beyond the reach of generative models (annual report 10-K 2025).
Getty licenses data and content for AI model training and sells Generative AI by Getty Images and by iStock — but that revenue sits in the "Other" line at 5.6 percent of 2025 revenue and fell 7.0 percent in Q1 2026. The risk factors state that AI-generated content can substitute for licensed content; Creative, at 56.7 percent of revenue, fell 8.0 percent currency-neutral in Q1 2026. Purchasing customers are down from 799,000 (2023) to 689,000 (2025).
$2.006 billion of debt (December 31, 2025) at coupons of 10.500 and 11.250 percent; interest expense of $156.2 million exceeded income from operations of $83.9 million in 2025, and $54.2 million against $31.6 million in Q1 2026. After the escrowed 10.500% notes are redeemed, roughly $1.33 billion remains — about 4.2 times adjusted EBITDA, with the next real maturity in 2028.
The AI lawsuit is a cost centre, not a moat: the UK case was won only on trademark, the primary copyright claims were dropped at trial, and $5.8 million of interim costs went to Stability AI (ruling November 4, 2025). Separately, the de-SPAC warrant litigation carries reserves of $205.3 million against $60.0 million of insurance; the Second Circuit affirmed against Getty on January 15, 2026 and nothing has been paid to date.
The Shutterstock merger was terminated on July 7, 2026 after the UK CMA demanded a sale of Shutterstock's editorial business. Mechanically that helps — the $628.4 million of 10.500% notes are redeemed from escrow, removing roughly $63 million of annual interest — but the strategic answer to AI and scale is gone, and the board is retaining a financial advisor on "strategic financing alternatives" (8-K of June 30 and July 7, 2026).
A market value of roughly $264 million on $981.3 million of revenue looks like a price-to-sales ratio of 0.27, but a whole-company buyer pays about $1.5 billion including the remaining debt — some 1.5 times revenue and 4.7 times adjusted EBITDA: fair to cheap, not a giveaway. Insiders hold about 78 percent, three analysts cover the stock with an average target of about $3.93 (data as of July 16, 2026).
Getty Images is a good business inside a hard structure. The licensing engine throws off a 32.7 percent adjusted EBITDA margin and an Editorial archive that generative models cannot synthesise — but $2.006 billion of de-SPAC debt at 10.5 to 11.25 percent takes more than the business earns ($156.2 million of interest against $83.9 million of operating income in 2025), the Creative segment that pays 56.7 percent of the bills fell 8.0 percent currency-neutral in the first quarter of 2026, and both escape routes closed: the UK court gave Getty only its trademark claim plus a $5.8 million costs award to Stability AI, and the Shutterstock merger was terminated on July 7, 2026. What is left is a thin, leveraged equity slice, a $205.3 million litigation reserve and an adviser on financing alternatives. Not investment advice.
- GETY reached our research list via the Reddit hype scanner (ApeWisdom, 2 mentions in 24 hours, as of July 16, 2026) — the striking part was the silence around a company whose rescue merger had collapsed nine days earlier. GETY has no company row in our in-house stock scanner, whose fundamental filters cover the Russell 3000 universe; there are therefore no scanner metrics (Piotroski, Altman Z) in this analysis, only the original filings.
- Careful with the ticker: GTY is Getty Realty Corporation, a petrol-station real-estate investment trust, and has nothing to do with Getty Images (NYSE: GETY).
- Valuation figures are dated to July 16, 2026 (market value roughly $264 million); balance-sheet items are as of March 31, 2026 and annual figures for fiscal 2025 (ended December 31, 2025). Analyses are evergreen, daily prices are not a buy argument.
About the Company
Getty Images Holdings, Inc. provides creative and editorial visual content solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. It offers creative, which includes royalty-free photos, illustrations, vectors, videos, and generative AI-services; editorial, which consists of photos and videos covering entertainment, sports, and news; and other products and services, such as music licensing, digital asset management, distribution services, print sales, and data access and/or licensing. The company also provides creative content and editorial coverage, including video, with exclusive content, and customizable rights and protections through its website Gettyimages.com, which serves enterprise agency, media, and corporate customers; IStock, an e-commerce platform that offers access to creative stills and video that primarily serves small and medium-sized businesses, including the freelance market; Unsplash.com, a platform that offers free stock photo downloads and paid subscriptions to high-growth prosumer and semi-professional creator segments; and Unsplash+, an unlimited image only subscription. In addition, it maintains privately-owned photographic archives covering news, sport, and entertainment, as well as a variety of subjects, including lifestyle, business, science, health, wellness, beauty, sports, transportation, and travel. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
| IPO Year | 2022 |
|---|
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.