As websites from companies like Facebook Inc and Groupon Inc commission as many images as magazines and television outlets do, Carlyle sees an opportunity to boost the business further globally and through new products.
"We will harness Carlyle's financial resources and global network to help take Getty Images to the next stage of product innovation and global growth," Carlyle Managing Director Eliot Merrill said.
Carlyle will acquire a stake of just over 50 percent in Getty, the largest supplier of stock photos, video and other digital content, while Getty management owns the rest, increasing its stake from just over 30 percent. The deal values Getty at $3.3 billion, including debt.
Getty, which competes with Reuters News and the Associated Press in the market for images for editorial use, plans to expand further in Asia and Latin America and build on products such as Thinkstock and Connect.
Getty, which for the first time shot images at the Summer Olympic Games in London in 3-D and 360-degree formats using robotic cameras, is changing private equity hands as the media landscape becomes hyper-competitive.
Founded in 1995 by Mark Getty and Klein, Getty has adapted to a shift in the media industry to online from print, as demand for digital images increases but the prices commanded online are still lower than in print.
But as the resolution on screens of portable and desktop devices becomes ever higher, Getty expects online pricing to improve.
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