Adobe and Figma end their $20 billion merger.
Adobe and Figma agree to terminate their $20B merger, announced in September 2022, after seeing “no clear path” to UK and EU regulatory approval.
Shares of Adobe were actually up this morning despite having to pay a $1 billion termination fee,
After an extensive investigation, the U.K. regulator provisionally concluded last month that Adobe's acquisition of Figma could hinder competition in the product-design software market, dampen innovation, and diminish Figma's challenge to Adobe's major products like Photoshop and Illustrator.
The acquisition is perceived as Adobe's significant wager on the increasing trend of creative tasks being undertaken by small enterprises and general users online, a domain rapidly dominated by Figma. Although Adobe has launched more affordable options for this segment, the majority of its products remain high-end, targeted primarily at professional users.