The UK regulatory authorities have launched a formal investigation into the acquisition of Getty Images by Shutterstock.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has issued a statement saying that there are legitimate reasons to launch a formal investigation into the 2.9 billion acquisition of Getty Images by Shutterstock. The UK Competition and Markets Authority had previously stated in June that it was seeking opinions on the deal in order to assess whether the merger could harm competition in the UK image library market. After evaluation, the regulatory agency deemed that there were sufficient risks associated with the transaction and decided to launch a formal investigation. The CMA stated that it will begin the first stage of the investigation on August 26th and set October 20th as the deadline for the preliminary ruling.