on september 23, 2009, shutterstock announced that it had purchased bigstock, a rival credit-based microstock photography agency. "fast company" argued the deal put "shutterstock on a competitive playing field with getty, whose istockphoto is also credit-based." shutterstock had 11 million royalty-free stock images by early 2010. in february 2011, it announced a two-year partnership with the american institute of graphic arts (aiga)