Mark Getty

Mark Getty was born on July 9, 1960, in Rome, Italy, to Eugene Paul GettyJohn Paul Getty Jr.John Paul Getty Jr. (1932–2003), known as Sir Paul Getty, was a son of oil businessman J. Paul Getty and a Britain-based philanthropist and book collector who made large gifts to the National Gallery, the British Film Institute and cricket, and received an honorary KBE in 1986.Open the full entry (later Sir Paul Getty) and Gail. The couple had four children: John Paul Getty IIIJohn Paul Getty IIIJohn Paul Getty III (1956–2011) was a grandson of the oil magnate J. Paul Getty who was kidnapped in Rome in 1973, had his right ear cut off and was freed after his family paid a ransom; he was paralysed by a drug-induced stroke in 1981 and died in England in 2011.Open the full entry, Aileen, Mark and Ariadne. After his parents divorced, his father married Talitha Pol, who died of a heroin overdose in 1971.⁠[1]

His grandfather J. Paul GettyJ. Paul GettyJ. Paul Getty (1892–1976) was an American oil businessman and art collector who held a controlling interest in the Getty Oil Company and founded the J. Paul Getty Museum; his bequest built the J. Paul Getty Trust after his death.Open the full entry was a tough, fierce figure. His mother Gail was determined that her children should have as normal an upbringing as possible in Italy; Mark Getty has said his childhood in the Italian countryside was settled and blissful.⁠[1]

In 1973 his brother John Paul Getty III was kidnapped and had part of his right ear cut off to extract a ransom. Mark Getty was afterward sent to Taunton School in England, where, he recalled, he could play sport, study and mix with boys from more ordinary professional backgrounds. He then read politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, and was also educated at the University of California, Berkeley.⁠[1][2]

Mark Getty began his professional career with the investment bank Kidder Peabody in New York. When Getty Oil was sold to Texaco for $10.1 billion in 1984, he was working at Kidder and was tangentially involved in the deal.⁠[2][1]

In 1991 he joined the corporate finance department of Hambros Bank Limited in London. He left Hambros in early 1993, and Jonathan Klein joined him at the end of that year.⁠[2][1]

In March 1995 Mark Getty co-founded Getty Images with Jonathan Klein. That month Klein made the winning £16 million offer for the picture library Tony Stone Images in a closed auction, and the company grew around acquisitions of stock-photography businesses. Mark Getty served as executive chairman until 2005.⁠[2][1]

In 1996 Getty Images floated in New York, with its shares quoted on Nasdaq. Around 1999 the company wrote off $120 million on its Art.com venture.⁠[1]

From 1999 to 2015 Mark Getty was a trustee of the National Gallery in London, serving as its chairman from 2008 to 2015.⁠[2]

His father, Sir Paul Getty, died in 2003. His father had owned the Wormsley estate in the Chilterns in England; as of 2010 Mark Getty lived at Wormsley with his wife, Domitilla, and their children.⁠[1]

After stepping down as executive chairman in 2005, Mark Getty served as a non-executive director on the Getty Images board from 2005 to 2018.⁠[2]

As of 2010 Mark Getty was leading a family legal case centring on a Getty family investment in a Russian oil and gas joint venture and its sale to Gazprom.⁠[1]

In 2016 Mark Getty was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for services to the arts.⁠[2]

From 2017 to 2026 he served as chair of the trustees of the British School at Rome.⁠[2]

In 2018 Mark Getty resumed the chairmanship of Getty Images.⁠[2]

On October 12, 2026, Getty Images announced a recapitalisation in which members of the Getty family, through certain of their affiliated entities, and affiliates of Koch Equity Development committed to invest up to $533 million of new equity, with Koch Equity Development also providing up to $143 million of financing; on emergence the equity investors would own 100% of the reorganized company. The company planned to commence a prepackaged Chapter 11 process within weeks and to complete the restructuring by year end.⁠[3]

Mark Getty, as co-founder and chairman of the board, said in the announcement: “Getty Images is uniquely trusted around the world as the unparalleled leader in premium visual content.”⁠[3]

On October 21, 2026, Getty Images filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to advance the restructuring. The voting deadline on the plan was November 30, 2026, and the company requested a confirmation hearing on December 14, 2026.⁠[4][5]

As of October 2026, as a trustee and director of Getty family entities, Mark Getty oversaw a diverse programme of investments across asset classes, including the cricket data site Wisden Cricinfo, the ball-tracking technology company Hawk-Eye, the UK commercial and strategic intelligence firm Hakluyt, 7digital and andBeyond Group. He lived in Rome, was married and had four children.⁠[2]

Getty Images: Official website: https://www.gettyimages.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]