Carlyle takes controlling interest in Getty Images for $3.3 billion
The photo archive hasn't been bought out entirely, as co-founder Mark Getty and the Getty family will roll their stake in the company into the new entity.
Global alternative asset manager Carlyle Group has agreed to acquire control of Getty Images for $3.3 billion.
According to Carlyle Group, the acquisition will not give it 100 percent ownership in the company. Instead, the asset manager has bought out Getty Images' major owner, private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, giving it a "controlling stake" in the company.
Getty Images co-founder and chairman Mark Getty, along with his family and co-founder and CEO Jonathan Klein, have rolled "substantially all" of their equity into the transaction, effectively making them Carlyle's partners.
Getty Images has been a popular photograph repository. The company also offers videos and music for customers to buy.
Carlyle doesn't say what it has planned for Getty Images, but claims that it'll do what it can to "take Getty Images to the next stage of product innovation and global growth."