Shutterstock's stock plummeted to a record low. The company will suspend dividend payments.

Shares of stock photo service Shutterstock plummeted 22% on July 23, hitting an all-time low. Its board of directors decided to suspend dividend payments to address its debt, and the chief financial officer announced his resignation. Another major photo service, Getty Images, had sought to acquire the company, but the deal fell through.

Shutterstock’s stock fell 21.95% on the New York Stock Exchange on July 23, to $5.76. This is the lowest price in the company’s entire history as a publicly traded company. As a result, the stock is now trading 70% lower than it was at the beginning of 2026.

The day before, the photo service announced that its board of directors had decided to suspend dividend payments. The company is reassessing its priorities and plans to allocate funds toward reducing debt and strengthening financial flexibility, Shutterstock stated. At the end of the first quarter, it distributed $12.8 million to shareholders—$0.36 per share. By comparison, its total liabilities for that period amounted to $629 million, a figure that remained virtually unchanged year-over-year.

An additional negative factor was the announcement that the company’s chief accountant, Steven Chiardello, would be stepping down effective August 28, according to the StockStory website. Shutterstock disclosed this in regulatory filings on the same day, July 22. Although the photo service stated that there were no disagreements between the parties, the departure of a key senior financial executive, combined with the decision not to pay dividends, has undermined investor confidence, according to StockStory.

In less than a month since the beginning of July, Shutterstock has lost nearly 60% of its value; at the close of trading on July 23, its market capitalization stood at $211.6 million.

The biggest drop occurred on July 1—in just one day, the company’s stock fell 29%. This happened after another major photo service, Getty Images, pulled out of the planned merger with Shutterstock. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) required Getty to sell its editorial photography division in order to approve the deal, the company explained.

Two weeks later, on July 13, Shutterstock announced the immediate resignation of its CEO, Paul Hennessy; the company’s CFO, Rick Powell, was named interim CEO. The next day, the stock price fell by nearly 8%.

The company will publish its financial results for the second quarter of 2026 on August 6.