EU Investigating Adobe’s Acquisition of Figma for $20 Billion
Adobe’s proposed acquisition of design competitor Figma, valued at $20 billion, is now under thorough investigation by the European Commission. The EU has expressed apprehension over the potential reduction in competition for interactive design software and tools used for digital asset creation.
The EU Commission has until December 14 to make a decision. “Through our thorough investigation, we aim to ensure that users continue to have access to a wide range of digital creative tools to choose from,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement to Reuters.
The move echoes a similar move from the UK last month, when its Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched its own in-depth investigation into the deal. The UK has until 27 December to complete the second stage review.
The deal would be Adobe’s largest acquisition ever. Founded in 2012, San Francisco-based Figma quickly grew in popularity and became a popular tool for vector design and remote collaboration. The company’s products compete directly with Adobe XD and Illustrator. Adobe has previously said it wants to incorporate Creative Cloud Suite features into Figma and add some of Figma’s collaboration features to its core products. It said at the time of the acquisition announcement that it was “deeply committed” to keeping Figma independent and said there was “no plan” to change its pricing or remove its free tier.
“The combination of Adobe and Figma will bring significant value to customers by making product design more accessible and efficient, reinventing creative capabilities online, and creating new categories of creativity and productivity,” Adobe said in a statement to ReturnByte. “We are happy to hear overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers around the world, and we are excited about the financial benefit the store will bring. We remain confident in the merits of the case because Figma’s product design is adjacent to Adobe’s core creative products, and Adobe has no meaningful plans to compete in the product design space.
