Adobe Gobbles Up Rival Figma for $20 billion | TechTree.com

Adobe Gobbles Up Rival Figma for $20 billion

Leaves users worried around the UX of the merged entity as Adobe does complicate things

 

Creativity is not a monopoly, we were told. However, the world of digital creative technology just saw a 900-pound gorilla gobble up one of its arch rivals Figma by coughing up a king's ransom number of $20 billion. 

Adobe announced their decision to acquire Figma, a provider of the collaborative web application for interface designing, at part of its quarterly earnings news. For the record, the company posted revenues of $4.43 billion which was good enough to make analysts smile. The fun part is that the company is now looking for debt to finance the Figma deal. 

And in tune with the troubled times, Adobe also predicted a lukewarm outlook for the next quarter due to the overall macroeconomic environment and foreign exchange headwinds. But, the truly worried ones are the fans of Figma who took to social media to wonder whether Adobe would make its user interface as complicated as it has done with its own design products. 

Whatever happens in the future, Adobe would do well to go through some of the tweets before it even considers fiddling with the existing Figma user experience. 

The deal would be a half cash and half stock option and includes 6 million additional restricted stock units given to Figma's CEO and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing, which is currently expected to happen in 2023. Of course, regulatory bodies could throw a spanner in the works if they smell anything anti-competitive in the deal. 

Figma's product strengths include design and prototyping for both individuals and teams via a cloud-based environment. The service has over four million users and is a good fit for Adobe's recent spate of acquisitions in the wider world of digital creation.

However, it remains to be seen how the two companies create a seamless connection without Adobe attempting to steal the thunder from Figma. What's also worth watching if Figma actually cares, given the $20 billion price tag as against the valuation of $10 billion they had in 2021, while raising $200 million.  


TAGS: Adobe, figma, acquisition

 
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