A piece of news is making a lot of noise in the field of design: Adobe just bought Figma, the renowned design software with cloud-based collaborative tools. The information was originally known through Bloombergand now it has been confirmed by both companies.
The deal will close in a few $20 billion, as mentioned. The transaction will be carried out partially in cash, and the rest in company shares, Adobe said. “The combination of Adobe and Figma will usher in a new era of collaborative creativity,” they said.
Figma will continue to operate independently, according to Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of the company. The executive himself will continue in his post, but will now report to Adobe’s David Wadhwani. “We plan to continue running Figma the way we always have: continue to do what we believe is best for our community, our culture, and our business,” he added.
Adobe expects to complete the acquisition of Figma in 2023, once it receives the corresponding regulatory approval.
Figma hopes to take a new leap in quality from the hand of Adobe
Figma saw tremendous growth during the pandemic, fueled by its collaborative design tools and heavy emphasis on the cloud. But the company is not new. In fact, a short time ago it celebrated its 10 years of activity. With great merit, it managed to position itself very strongly in the field of design, to the point of becoming a favorite tool in companies like Google and Microsoft.
In fact, CNBC recently posted that Figma became so popular within Microsoft, that they would have prohibited its use to some employees so as not to damage its relationship of more than 20 years with Adobe.
In a way, Figma was in direct competition with Adobe, especially against solutions like Adobe XD. However, the company assures that the acquisition will allow you to grow much faster. “There is a tremendous opportunity for us to accelerate the growth and innovation of the Figma platform with access to Adobe’s technology, expertise and resources in the creative space. For example, we will have the opportunity to incorporate their expertise in imaging, photography , illustration, video, 3D and font technology to Figma,” said Dylan Field.
As indicated Bloomberg Before the acquisition was confirmed, the decision to buy Figma would not have been simply to get a competitor out of the way. Adobe would have seen in this company the necessary tools to counter the skepticism of its investorswho in recent years have begun to doubt whether they could continue to dominate the professional design sector.
Regarding their prices, Figma clarified that they will not be impacted by the purchase by Adobe. Although they recognized that the inflationary context is unpredictable, from the firm they assured that they do not have any changes planned at the moment. The acquisition will also not affect the availability of the software for educational purposes, since it will remain free for schools and universities.