Getty Images and Shutterstock announced that the companies will merge and create a $3.7 billion 'premier visual content company.'

Visual content companies Shutterstock and Getty Images will join to become a $3.7 billion visual content company.

Under the terms of the agreement, the combined company will retain the Getty Images name and continue trading under the NYSE ticker symbol "GETY." Craig Peters, current CEO of Getty Images, will lead the merged entity, while Shutterstock's CEO Paul Hennessy will join the eleven-member Board of Directors.

Getty Images Holdings Inc. agreed to acquire rival stock-photo provider Shutterstock Inc. in a deal that would create a combined company worth about $3.7 billion including debt.

Getty Images CEO Craig Peters will oversee the company formed following Getty's mergers with Shutterstock. (Getty Images Photo) Seattle's Getty Images is

Getty Images Holdings and Shutterstock have agreed to merge into one visual-content company with an enterprise value of about $3.7 billion. Shares of both companies jumped on the announcement.

Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:GETY) and Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) shares are trading higher premarket on Tuesday after the companies entered a deal to create a visual content company in a merger of equals.

The deal, presented as a merger of equals, will create a company worth $3.7Bn with annual revenue of around $2Bn.

Shares in Getty Images and Shutterstock surged after the image companies agreed to merge, creating a group worth about $3.7 billion including debt. Getty stock stood about 25% higher Tuesday morning.

Getty Images and Shutterstock will merge into one company valued at $3.7 billion in a deal that aims to take on competition from AI, the companies announced on Tuesday. The new premier visual content company will be called Getty Images Holdings, Inc. and at close, Getty Images’s CEO, Craig Peters, will serve as CEO of the combined company.