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M&A

Adobe’s Big Swing

Illustration of a hand dropping M&A.

Should the $20 billion acquisition of —half in stock and half in cash—pass through regulatory hoops, it would be the largest acquisition of a private technology company to date, according to a Crunchbase News analysis.Ìý

It would also prompt a big uptick in valuation from the last recorded valuation for the 10-year-old San Francisco-based company. Figma was valued around $10 billion in its Series E funding led by in June 2021. Its earlier investors, which include and , are poised to do very well from this acquisition.Ìý

The largest technology acquisition prior to this announcement was ’s purchase of n 2014 for $19 billion. And the third largest is ’s purchase of in 2018 for $16 billion.Ìý

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This is not the only billion-dollar acquisition for Adobe in recent years.Ìý

The San Jose-based digital marketing and design company founded in 1982 has acquired cloud service companies with a wide range of capabilities in recent years.Ìý 

Adobe acquired marketing automation platform from which took the company private in 2016 for around $1.8 billion. Adobe paid $4.8 billion in 2018. In the same year, Adobe acquired cloud commerce platform for $1.7 billion.

More recently, in 2020 it acquired enterprise workplace management company for $1.5 billion and in 2021 video collaboration platform for $1.3 billion.

Strong market response

The public markets have not reacted well to the announcement, with Adobe’s stock trending down 17% in a day. Adobe reported $4.43 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2022 showing 13% year-over-year growth. Adobe forecasts that Figma’s recurring annual revenue will be .Ìý

In 2005, when Adobe acquired , a web design software developer and a big competitor at the time, for $3.4 billion in a stock transaction which amounted to 18% of its stock, the market either.Ìý

Still, the Figma acquisition offers clear advantages. With the advent of the cloud and scaled pricing from SaaS businesses, gaining a significant user base through product—and price—differentiation has led to innovation and competition. Incumbents are not always well-positioned to launch lower-priced options at scale. Acquiring your way into that makes ultimate business sense.Ìý

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