Adobe buys Figma for $20 billion — the largest such deal in history
The American company Adobe (developer of Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, Lightroom) has agreed to buy Figma, the developer of the online graphic editor of the same name for web design. Initially, the probable signing of the agreement was reported by Bloomberg with reference to its own sources, after which Adobe officially confirmed the purchase of Figma.
The amount of the deal was $20 billion — and this, according to Bloomberg, is the largest takeover of a software company. Initially, it was reported that the amount of the deal will be about $15 billion. Adobe will pay the stipulated amount in cash and its shares in a 50/50 ratio. As of September 2, Adobe had $3.87 billion in cash and cash equivalents at its disposal.
After the deal closes, Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, will continue to lead the Figma team, reporting to David Wadhwani, president of Adobe Digital Media. Each company will continue to operate independently until the deal is completed.
As The Verge points out, over the past few years, Figma has become a serious competitor to the Adobe XD service, which offers similar capabilities for UI/UX design. At the same time, services for designers bring Adobe the lion’s share of revenue — about 60%. These two factors played a key role in the decision. Adobe sees Figma as a valuable addition to its portfolio that will help ‘accelerate business growth and innovation.’
Adobe shares fell nearly 8% in the premarket after the deal was announced. The leader in graphic design software has been hit hard by the technology downturn, with Adobe shares losing more than a third of their value since the start of the year. At the same time, investors are increasingly questioning Adobe’s ability to maintain leadership in web design software.
As for Figma, the company was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace. Business for the developer of the eponymous vector online service for interface development and prototyping with the possibility of organizing joint work went up sharply during the pandemic due to the growing trend for remote work. Among its clients are such well-known IT giants as Airbnb, Google, Netflix and Twitter. Venture capital funds Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures and Greylock Partners are among the main investors.
They want to close the deal in fiscal 2023, but first, as always in such cases, it must be approved by regulators and shareholders. Simultaneously with the announcement of the deal, Adobe published its report for the third quarter – revenue increased by 13% to $4.43 billion. It is the third quarter in a row that Adobe’s revenue has grown by less than 15%. The revenue forecast for the next quarter is $4.52 billion, while analysts expected at least $4.58 billion.
