![](https://lipperalpha.refinitiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BV-9-Jan-300x117.jpg)
Getty Images’ $3.7 billion merger, including debt, with rival stock image seller Shutterstock is a picture-perfect template for more deals. Three big factors – potentially looser competition policing, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the benefits of combining aging tech stragglers – argue in favor of tie-ups. Key, though, is whether investors give buyers a long enough leash to strike acquisitions. Given the warm reception to the Tuesday announcement, which touts hefty savings, the scene is set. The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden was a nightmare for dealmakers. For four years, trustbusters opposed a host of combinations on novel legal grounds, slow-rolling approvals