Photoshop-maker Adobe announced plans to acquire Figma, a popular design tool, for about $20 billion USD (roughly $26.4 billion CAD) in cash and stock.
Adobe announced the acquisition in a press release shortly after rumours emerged Thursday morning about the potential purchase. The Verge notes that Figma heavily competed with Adobe’s XD products in recent years, and has become key for many businesses. In fact, Microsoft relied so heavily on Figma to build Office and Windows that it strained the company’s relationship with Adobe.
Figma’s strong suit has been the web, a place where Adobe has struggled to compete. For example, Adobe only recently started making Photoshop available through the web.
Adobe will eventually combine its community with Figma and will likely start bundling Figma products and services into its ‘Creative Cloud’ suite. Meanwhile, Figma will continue operating as normal, with CEO Dylan Field writing in a blog post that “Adobe is deeply committed to keeping Figma operating autonomously.” Moreover, Field will continue as Figma’s CEO.
Of course, Figma will likely benefit from Adobe as well. The Verge notes that the company wants to leverage Adobe’s experience in areas like 3D, video, vector imaging, and fonts to improve product design.
Adobe plans to hold a conference call at 7am PT/10am ET this morning to discuss its quarterly earnings, but company executives will comment on the Figma acquisition during the call. You can watch a live webcast of the call here.
