Getty Images has terminated its proposed $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock after the United Kingdom’s antitrust regulator imposed a condition requiring the sale of Shutterstock’s editorial business. The decision was communicated to Shutterstock on Tuesday through a formal notice terminating the merger agreement.

The deal, which was announced last year, aimed to combine the two companies to create a leading global provider of visual content, including licensed photos, illustrations, music, and videos. Both Getty Images and Shutterstock serve a wide range of clients, including major media outlets, advertisers, publishers, designers, and smaller businesses within the creative industry.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had approved the merger following a regulatory review but stipulated that Shutterstock divest its editorial assets to an approved buyer to address competition concerns. Getty Images cited this condition as the main factor behind abandoning the transaction.

The termination ends months of discussions and regulatory scrutiny as the companies sought to align their operations under a single corporate entity. While the agreement’s collapse preserves the current competitive landscape in the visual content sector, both Getty and Shutterstock continue to compete independently in a marketplace driven by digital media demand.