Getty Images Holdings, Inc. today filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, seeking to implement a prepackaged plan that would eliminate more than $500 million of its roughly $1.46 billion in funded debt, cancel every existing share and hand 100% of the reorganized company to members of the Getty family and affiliates of Koch Equity Development.

In Short

Getty Images, the company behind one of the world's largest libraries of stock and news photos, has asked a bankruptcy court to approve a plan it already agreed with its lenders. Its customers, photographers and suppliers are meant to be paid as normal, but people who own its shares would get nothing and the Getty family and Koch would own the whole company. If the court approves the plan at a hearing set for December 14, 2026, Getty Images would leave bankruptcy as a private company with much less debt and would stop publishing reports with the SEC.

What was filed today

The filing reached the public through a Form 8-K dated October 21, 2026 and signed by Kjelti Kellough, the company's senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. The 8-K gives October 20, 2026 as the date of the earliest event reported. That was the day the company began soliciting creditor votes on the plan, one day before the petitions themselves.

Seven entities filed voluntary petitions today: Getty Images Holdings, Inc., Griffey Midco (DE), LLC, Abe Investment Holdings, Inc., Getty Images, Inc., Getty Images (US), Inc., Getty Images News Services (PRC), Inc. and Getty Images (Seattle), Inc. According to the court's list of recently filed Chapter 11 cases, they were assigned case numbers 26-11643 through 26-11649, all dated October 21, 2026 and all before Judge Stickles. The holding company's case is 26-11643-JKS. The company has asked the court to administer the cases jointly under the caption In re Getty Images Holdings, Inc., et al.

The filing package runs to 391 pages. Most of it is Exhibit 99.1, the disclosure statement for the joint prepackaged plan, dated October 20, 2026, which itself attaches the plan, the restructuring support agreement, an organizational chart, financial projections, a liquidation analysis and a valuation analysis. Exhibit 99.2 is the company's press release, also dated October 21.

Only US entities are in court. "None of the corporate entities that comprise the Company's foreign operations are Chapter 11 Debtors," according to the disclosure statement, which lists subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, Germany, France and Brazil, among others. Operations outside the US account for approximately 44% of revenue, according to the same document.

The company has filed what it calls customary "first day" motions, including requests for authority to pay "employee wages and benefits and vendors, suppliers and content contributors in the ordinary course of business," according to the 8-K. It has also asked the court to approve debtor-in-possession financing. Craig Peters, the chief executive, framed the day in the press release: "Today's filing is a procedural step to implement the financial restructuring previously announced. Getty Images continues to operate normally, serving customers and supporting contributors and partners around the world."

The 8-K points readers to Kroll Restructuring Administration, the claims and noticing agent, at restructuring.ra.kroll.com/GettyImages, and to the court's electronic filing system. The court's own homepage, captured today, carried a separate warning: the national Bankruptcy Noticing Center was "currently experiencing an outage," and the court said the center "is unable to provide noticing services to the courts at this time." The filing does not address whether that outage affects service of the Getty notices.

A $1.46 billion debt stack, now due

The commencement of the cases triggered an event of default that accelerated the company's obligations, according to Item 2.04 of the 8-K. The amounts listed are:

  • approximately $40.1 million of US dollar term loans and approximately €407 million of euro term loans under the February 19, 2019 credit agreement, with JPMorgan Chase Bank as administrative and collateral agent
  • approximately $150.0 million of revolving loans under the same agreement
  • approximately $539.9 million of 11.250% senior secured notes due 2030
  • approximately $264.7 million of 14.000% senior notes due 2028
  • approximately $5.3 million of 9.750% senior notes due 2027

The disclosure statement converts the euro loans at the October 21 exchange rate to about $456 million and puts total funded debt at $1.46 billion. Enforcement of the accelerated amounts is frozen by the automatic stay that applies once a bankruptcy case begins.

The revolver tells its own story. It was undrawn as recently as March 31, 2026, according to the disclosure statement. On April 22, 2026, Getty Images, Inc. drew $120.0 million, used in part to pay a warrant litigation judgment. The remaining $30.0 million was drawn in July 2026. "In sum, within a period of approximately three months, the Company exhausted its entire revolving credit line," the disclosure statement says.

How the plan works

The restructuring support agreement was signed on October 12, 2026, and was first disclosed in an 8-K filed on October 13. As of the disclosure statement's date, consenting stakeholders held approximately 100% of the revolving loan claims, approximately 90% of the secured funded debt claims and approximately 83% of the unsecured notes claims, all of whom agreed, subject to the agreement's terms, to vote for the plan.

The main terms, according to the disclosure statement:

  • DIP financing. The plan sponsors will provide a multi-draw senior secured debtor-in-possession term loan of $143 million: $113 million of term loans, of which $85 million is available on interim court approval and $28 million on final approval, plus $30 million of delayed-draw loans available on interim approval. The company says it would hit a liquidity shortfall "in the first month of these Chapter 11 Cases" without it.
  • New equity. The sponsors commit a cash investment of $433,212,922.50, less the principal of the DIP loans outstanding at the effective date. The DIP loans convert into equity.
  • Secured lenders. The 11.25% secured notes and US dollar term loans convert dollar for dollar into new notes. Euro term loans not held by the sponsors convert into new euro term loans. The plan projects 100% recovery for this class.
  • Revolving lenders. Revolving claims convert into a new $150 million revolving facility, which is to be repaid so that its balance is $0 at emergence. Projected recovery: 100%.
  • Unsecured noteholders. Holders share a cash payment of approximately $170.2 million against $270 million of principal plus accrued interest. The recovery table in the disclosure statement estimates 63%; the liquidation analysis puts the same class at 62.4%.
  • Trade and other unsecured creditors. General unsecured claims are to be paid in full, reinstated or otherwise left unimpaired, with a projected recovery of 100%.
  • Shareholders. All interests in the holding company are cancelled with no distribution.
  • Warrant claimants. All claims tied to the 2020 warrants are subordinated under section 510(b) of the Bankruptcy Code and cancelled with no distribution.

The sponsors would own 100% of the new equity, "subject only to dilution by a management incentive plan" of up to 10% on a fully diluted basis. The current board's term ends at the effective date, and the sponsors designate the new board.

The equity figure does not reconcile

The press release headline speaks of "an equity investment of up to $533 million from members of the Getty family, through certain of their affiliated entities, and affiliates of Koch Equity Development." The disclosure statement and the plan definitions give approximately $433 million, less outstanding DIP loans. The disclosure statement separately says certain plan sponsors hold €87.6 million of euro term loans that will be "fully equitized." The filing does not explain how the $533 million figure is calculated, and neither document reconciles the two numbers.

The disclosure statement also records how the price rose. After the unsecured noteholders' ad hoc committee rejected the first deal struck with the secured group, the company "successfully negotiated with the Plan Sponsors to increase their committed cash equity investment from approximately $280 million to up to $433 million." That increase funds the $170.2 million cash payout to unsecured holders.

A $391 million hurdle for rival bids

The disclosure statement spells out why it believes no recovery can reach shareholders. Under the plan, the DIP facility of up to $143 million is equitized, approximately $50 million of make-whole claims on the secured notes and term loans receive nothing, the €87.6 million of sponsor-held euro loans is equitized, and approximately $100 million of compromised unsecured notes receives nothing. "In short," the document says, "any competing deal needs to clear up to an additional approximately $391 million in value before existing equity and Section 510(b) Claims could see any recovery."

A fiduciary-out in Section 12.02(b) of the restructuring support agreement lets the board terminate the deal if proceeding would be inconsistent with its fiduciary duties or if it decides to pursue an alternative restructuring proposal. Guggenheim Securities, the company's investment banker, held discussions with six parties about financing alternatives before the agreement was signed. One passed. The others offered either "highly structured transactions" that would have left the company "highly levered with incremental, very expensive indebtedness," or capital that "would not have been sufficient to refinance the Debtors' current capital structure," according to the disclosure statement.

Why a profitable business ended up in court

The company argues that its operations did not cause the filing. "The Company's core businesses remain strong and show steady growth," the disclosure statement says, before naming three "non-operational events": the warrant litigation, the collapse of the Shutterstock merger and the debt load that merger left behind.

The warrant judgments

The entity that became the holding company assumed 20,700,000 public warrants in connection with an August 2020 IPO, each exercisable at $11.50. After Getty Images listed in July 2022, the shares available to trade were less than 0.2% of total shares issued, and the price spiked "from less than $10 per share to over $32 per share in less than a week after listing," according to the disclosure statement. Some holders tried to exercise. The company, on the advice of prior outside counsel, said the exercise conditions had not been met because a registration statement was not yet effective. It allowed exercise from September 16, 2022, by which time the stock had fallen below the strike price.

The courts disagreed with the company's position. On October 26, 2023, the Southern District of New York awarded $36.9 million to Alta Partners and $51.0 million to CRCM Institutional Master Fund, plus 9% annual pre-judgment interest. The Second Circuit affirmed on January 15, 2026 and denied rehearing on April 16. Holdings paid $110.9 million on April 23, 2026. Further judgments followed: $4.7 million and $1.5 million in the Berner and Lapp cases on August 7, 2025, and $67.8 million plus 9% interest in consolidated New York state litigation, with judgment entered on September 25, 2026. Holdings has appealed both.

In total, according to the disclosure statement, the warrant litigation produced "over $200 million in adverse judgments and associated interest and $35 million in legal fees and expenses" over about four years. The plan seeks to wipe out approximately $99.5 million in pending judgments and interest, along with "potential exposure of an estimated over $275 million in additional unasserted Warrant Claims." The company was unable to obtain a bond to stay the New York state judgment pending appeal and negotiated a standstill on the roughly $92 million judgment instead.

The Shutterstock merger

Getty Images signed the merger agreement with Shutterstock on January 6, 2025, for a combination valued at about $3.7 billion in which Getty shareholders would have held about 54.7%. The DOJ concluded its review with no objections on February 23, 2026. The UK Competition and Markets Authority took a different view. Its Phase 1 conclusion on October 20, 2025 found a possible substantial lessening of competition in creative and editorial content. The case went to Phase 2 on November 3, 2025, a provisional finding followed on February 19, 2026, and the final report on May 15, 2026 required divestiture of Shutterstock's entire editorial business.

The disclosure statement is pointed about the regulator. On creative content, "the CMA did not credit the competition created by generative AI, bundled solutions, and other providers," it says. On editorial, the concerns focused on a UK market representing "less than 1 percent of Shutterstock's global revenues." The board decided on June 30, 2026 not to proceed with a CMA-supervised sale, and Getty delivered its termination notice on July 7. The share price fell from $0.94 to $0.48 by July 22, 2026.

The cost of the attempt is listed in detail. Over eighteen months, the company "spent more than $100 million in fees pursuing the merger, approximately $10 million in expedited Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, and approximately $43.6 million in net interest expense and financing fees" on the $628.4 million of 10.500% senior secured notes issued in October 2025 to fund the deal. Those notes were redeemed at par on July 7, 2026 from escrow. "These costs yielded no lasting benefits and only burdened the Company's cash flows," according to the disclosure statement.

Debt service above cash generation

Interest expense for the six months to June 30, 2026 was $111.5 million, against $69.2 million a year earlier, an increase of 61.1%. Excluding the redeemed merger notes, annualized debt service at the petition date was approximately $239 million: about $154 million of interest, €22 million of scheduled euro loan amortization and a $60 million required annual repayment on the 14.00% notes. That obligation "exceeds the cash the Company has been able to generate from operations," the disclosure statement says.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at approximately $50 million at the petition date, down from $90.2 million at December 31, 2025. In July 2026, the company's forecasts showed total liquidity falling below its $50 million minimum operating requirement by the fourth quarter of 2026 and turning negative by June 2027, before any payments to warrant holders or restructuring fees. Management concluded there was substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern.

The rating agencies tracked the slide. Moody's cut the corporate family rating to Caa1 from B2 on April 21, 2026, and to Caa3 on September 2. S&P moved the issuer rating to B on May 19, to CCC+ on July 2 and to CCC on September 3. The disclosure statement quotes S&P's July 2 note: "[t]he terminated merger will strain Getty's liquidity and we now view its capital structure as unsustainable."

PPC Land reported the market consequences as they happened. The New York Stock Exchange halted trading on September 29 after the shares fell to 12 cents, and suspension proceedings began with the company carrying about $1.47 billion of debt. According to the disclosure statement, Holdings was formally delisted on October 12, 2026, the same day the restructuring support agreement was signed. The Class A stock last closed at $0.02 on the Pink Open Market on October 20, with approximately 421.0 million shares outstanding on October 21.

The business advertisers buy from

For marketers, the more relevant part of the document is its portrait of the operating company. The library holds over 662 million images and videos, with approximately 11 million new assets added each quarter. Customers run over 2.1 billion searches a year. As of the petition date, the company serves over 635,000 purchasing customers and approximately 240,000 active annual subscribers through websites in 23 languages, with approximately 1,600 employees in 32 countries.

Annual subscriptions make up approximately 59% of revenue, and over 70% of booked revenues come from customers with a tenure of 10 years or more. The Creative business, which supplies royalty-free photos, illustrations, vectors and video for "websites, digital media, social media, marketing campaigns, corporate collateral, and online video content," represents approximately 56% of total revenue. Editorial covers more than 160,000 events a year, including almost 70,000 entertainment events and more than 50,000 sporting events. The archive, which includes Bettmann, Sygma, Gamma and Hulton, holds over 150 million images.

The company distributes content from over 600,000 contributors and more than 360 premium partners, over 84,000 of whom are exclusive. Contributors and partners "typically receive royalties of 20% to 50% of the license fee depending on how content is licensed," according to the notes to the financial projections.

Where the erosion is

The disclosure statement concedes structural pressure in two places: iStock, which serves small and medium businesses through self-service e-commerce, and advertising agency customers. Within those groups, purchasing customers fell from approximately 835,000 in the twelve months to December 31, 2022, to 799,000 in 2023, 717,000 in 2024, 675,000 in the twelve months to March 31, 2026 and 636,000 in the twelve months to June 30, 2026. That is a decline of approximately 24%. Active annual subscribers fell from 321,000 to 240,000 between the twelve months to June 30, 2025 and the same period in 2026.

The document attributes the shifts to "the emergence of generative AI and changes in media consumption and marketing strategies." It also says generative AI tools "have put pressure on the budget-conscious microstock image market - which constitutes only a small portion of Getty Images' overall business." Outside iStock and agencies, it describes the business as "resilient," with approximately $978 million in revenue and approximately $307 million in Adjusted EBITDA for the twelve months ending with the second quarter of 2026.

The projections in Exhibit D, however, start below that run rate. Management forecasts revenue of $910.6 million in 2027, rising to $929.1 million in 2028, $945.7 million in 2029, $971.3 million in 2030 and $987.7 million in 2031. Adjusted EBITDA is projected at $291.0 million in 2027, with the margin easing from 32.0% to 30.2% by 2031. The projections assume an effective date of December 31, 2026 and were not reviewed by an independent auditor. The filing does not explain the step down from the trailing $978 million to the 2027 figure.

AI as both threat and revenue line

The disclosure statement describes the AI business in some detail. Getty Images "has licensed images, video, and metadata to AI technology companies for use in training foundation models," it says, and "powers AI-driven search and discovery tools (such as those offered by Perplexity and OpenAI/ChatGPT)." It also maintains search licensing agreements with conventional web search engines. PPC Land covered the OpenAI display agreement signed on June 21, 2026, which followed a Perplexity image partnership in October 2025.

The company's own generative tools, sold under Getty Images and iStock, are "trained exclusively on permissioned content" and come with indemnification and perpetual worldwide usage rights. The company has also invested in content authenticity technology, "including C2PA and watermarking, that aligns with the emerging EU AI Act." The litigation side of the AI story sits outside this filing: the UK High Court ruled in November 2025 that Stable Diffusion training did not infringe Getty's copyright, and the disclosure statement does not mention that case. It does not give revenue figures for AI licensing either.

What changes for customers, licensors and the brand

Three provisions bear directly on companies that buy from or license to Getty Images.

First, general unsecured creditors, a class that the disclosure statement says includes "vendors, content contributors, and other trade counterparties," are left unimpaired. At the petition date, accounts payable owed to vendors, contributors and other counterparties stood at approximately $105.3 million, and deferred revenue from prepaid subscriptions and services not yet delivered was approximately $179.0 million.

Second, every license agreement is to be assumed by the same debtor that signed it and "shall not be assigned." The plan states that neither confirmation, the restructuring transactions nor the ownership change "shall constitute an assignment, change of control, or default under any such License Agreement." Counterparties that want to object to assumption must do so by the confirmation objection deadline. Those that do not object in time "will be deemed to have consented to such assumption," according to the disclosure statement. The risk factors acknowledge that certain counterparties may object, including on change-of-control grounds, and that cure payments could exceed estimates.

Third, the brand itself sits outside the restructuring. The plan preserves a Trademark Option Agreement, including a February 19, 2019 letter agreement between Getty Investments L.L.C. and Getty Images, Inc., and "the rights of Getty Investments L.L.C. and its Affiliates in respect of the Trademarks." The trademarks are defined as the "Getty Marks" under that agreement. The restructuring support agreement says the option agreement will be assumed on an "as is" basis. The forward-looking statements in both the 8-K and the press release list "the risk that the Company may lose the right to use 'Getty Images' trademarks." The filing does not describe the option's terms, its exercise conditions or what would trigger a loss of the right to use the name.

The reorganized company will also go dark. It intends to deregister under the Exchange Act "as promptly as practicable," and holders of the new notes, term loans and revolver "may not receive any information regarding the Reorganized Debtors" beyond what their documents require. Advertisers and agencies that have tracked Getty's quarterly disclosure of agency revenue will lose that data point once the plan takes effect.

The schedule

The company wants confirmation within approximately 55 days and emergence within approximately 75 days of the petition date. The proposed timeline, subject to court approval:

  • October 9, 2026: voting record date
  • October 20, 2026: solicitation began
  • October 21, 2026: petition date
  • On or about October 27, 2026: service of the combined hearing notice and non-voting notices
  • On or about October 30, 2026: service of the section 510(b) non-voting notice to warrant claimants
  • November 23, 2026: initial plan supplement deadline
  • November 30, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET: voting, objection, opt-in and contract-objection deadline
  • December 7, 2026: voting report due
  • December 9, 2026: confirmation brief due
  • December 14, 2026: combined hearing on the disclosure statement and plan

The restructuring support agreement's milestones require an interim DIP order within three business days of filing and a final DIP order within 35 days. Missing the effective-date milestone could trigger termination rights under the agreement and the equity commitment letter. The company has also asked the court to waive the section 341 creditors' meeting and the usual schedules of assets and liabilities.

Valuation and the liquidation alternative

Guggenheim Securities estimated the reorganized company's total enterprise value at approximately $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion, with a midpoint of $1.4 billion, as of October 15, 2026. After deducting pro forma net debt of $907 million, that implies equity value of approximately $393 million to $593 million, with a midpoint of $493 million. Guggenheim notes that it relied on management's projections and took into account "the impact of artificial intelligence."

Under the plan, the company expects approximately $65 million in annual interest savings, a reduction in annual debt service of approximately $133 million and about $75 million of cash at emergence, plus the undrawn $150 million revolver. The liquidation analysis compares this with a Chapter 7 conversion, which would return an estimated 21.2% to 33.2% to revolving and secured lenders and 0% to unsecured noteholders and general unsecured creditors.

What the filing leaves out

Several points remain open after a full read of the 391 pages. The gap between the $533 million in the press release and the $433 million in the plan is unexplained. The disclosure statement says the company is "evaluating which, if any, regulatory approvals are required," while the press release expects completion "by year end after customary regulatory approvals are obtained," without naming them. The special committees, made up of independent directors Elizabeth Abrams and Thomas Walper at Holdings and Neal Goldman at the subsidiaries, are investigating potential intercompany claims, and "the investigation remains ongoing." The 391-page package contains no first-day declaration, no DIP interest rate and no breakdown of AI licensing revenue. It also says nothing about how the Trademark Option Agreement works.

The press release states there is "no anticipated impact on content contributors, partners, customers, employees, or vendors." That is the company's expectation, conditioned on court approval of the first-day motions, the DIP financing and the plan.

Why this matters for the marketing industry

Getty Images is a supplier to almost every part of the advertising chain: brands building campaigns, agencies producing creative, publishers illustrating news and, increasingly, AI companies licensing training data and display rights. The disclosure statement's numbers show that the chain is already changing. The customer groups that feel the effects of generative AI first, small businesses on iStock and advertising agencies, are the ones shrinking. The enterprise and editorial business carrying the company is the one the plan is built to protect.

The case also lands in a Delaware court that PPC Land readers have been following since Character.ai filed there on October 12, 2026, nine days and fewer than 50 case numbers earlier. The two cases are very different. Character.ai is selling assets, while Getty Images is restructuring a company with about $978 million of trailing revenue. Both, though, put AI licensing and content rights at the centre of a bankruptcy file. Earlier this year, QVC used a similar prepackaged route to cut its funded debt from about $6.6 billion to $1.3 billion.

For agencies and brands holding Getty subscriptions or enterprise licenses, the practical test arrives on November 30, the deadline for objecting to the assumption of license agreements. Those that file nothing will be treated as consenting.

Timeline

  • March 1995: Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein co-found Getty Communications in London
  • February 2008: Hellman & Friedman takes Getty Images private at $34 per share
  • February 19, 2019: Credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank as agent; Trademark Option letter agreement between Getty Investments L.L.C. and Getty Images, Inc.
  • August 4, 2020: Warrant agreement covering 20,700,000 public warrants
  • July 22, 2022: Holdings assumes the warrant agreement
  • September 16, 2022: Holdings allows warrant exercise after the registration statement takes effect
  • October 26, 2023: Southern District of New York awards $36.9 million to Alta and $51.0 million to CRCM
  • January 6-7, 2025: Getty Images and Shutterstock agree a $3.7 billion merger
  • February 21, 2025: Refinancing amendment creates new USD and euro term loans
  • October 20, 2025: CMA Phase 1 conclusion on the merger
  • October 2025: $628.4 million of 10.500% merger notes issued into escrow
  • November 3, 2025: CMA refers the merger to Phase 2
  • November 4, 2025: UK High Court rules Stable Diffusion training does not infringe Getty's copyright
  • January 15, 2026: Second Circuit affirms the initial warrant judgments
  • February 23, 2026: DOJ concludes its merger review with no objections
  • April 16, 2026: Second Circuit denies rehearing; QVC files a prepackaged Chapter 11 the same day
  • April 21, 2026: Moody's downgrades Getty to Caa1
  • April 22-23, 2026: $120 million revolver draw; $110.9 million warrant judgment paid
  • May 15, 2026: CMA final report requires divestiture of Shutterstock's editorial business
  • June 21, 2026: Getty Images signs a display deal with OpenAI for ChatGPT
  • June 30, 2026: Board decides not to proceed with the CMA-supervised sale
  • July 7, 2026: Termination notice delivered to Shutterstock; merger notes redeemed at par
  • July 2026: Remaining $30 million of the revolver drawn
  • September 2, 2026: Moody's cuts to Caa3 after missed September 1 interest payments
  • September 25, 2026: Judgment entered in the New York state warrant actions
  • September 29, 2026: NYSE halts trading after the shares fall to 12 cents
  • September 30, 2026: Unsecured notes interest paid within the grace period
  • October 12, 2026: Restructuring support agreement signed; Holdings formally delisted from the NYSE; Character.ai files Chapter 11 in the same court
  • October 20, 2026: Disclosure statement dated and solicitation begins; stock closes at $0.02
  • October 21, 2026: Seven Getty entities file Chapter 11 in Delaware, cases 26-11643 to 26-11649
  • November 30, 2026: Voting and objection deadline
  • December 14, 2026: Proposed combined hearing on the disclosure statement and plan
  • December 31, 2026: Effective date assumed in the projections and valuation

Summary

Who: Getty Images Holdings, Inc. and six US subsidiaries, with members of the Getty family (through affiliated entities) and affiliates of Koch Equity Development as plan sponsors, supported by secured lenders, revolving lenders and an ad hoc committee of unsecured noteholders.

What: A prepackaged Chapter 11 plan that would cut more than $500 million from about $1.46 billion of funded debt, fund a $143 million DIP facility and an equity investment of about $433 million, pay unsecured noteholders about $170.2 million in cash, leave trade creditors and content contributors unimpaired, assume all license agreements, and cancel all existing shares and warrant claims without distribution.

When: The petitions were filed today, October 21, 2026, after solicitation began on October 20. Voting closes on November 30, and the company has asked for a combined hearing on December 14, 2026, with emergence targeted by year end.

Where: The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, under case numbers 26-11643 to 26-11649 before Judge Stickles. Foreign subsidiaries, which generate about 44% of revenue, are not in the cases.

Why: According to the filing, warrant litigation judgments of over $200 million, more than $100 million in fees on the terminated Shutterstock merger and about $239 million of annual debt service drained liquidity to about $50 million, while iStock and agency customers declined by about 24% since 2022 amid generative AI pressure.