ADBE: Adobe Stock Adds 2.5% after $20B Figma Purchase Derails on Regulator Scrutiny

The design community across the global can breathe easy now – the merger is off and Adobe will pay a $1B breakup fee.

• Software giant Adobe ADBE and design tools maker Figma announced the termination of their long-awaited merger with the lofty price tag of $20 billion. The deal, made public 15 months ago, was mutually ended after both parties couldn’t find a clear path to receiving regulatory approvals in Europe and the UK.
• Shares of Adobe rose 2.5% after the news broke out, despite the company being on the hook for a $1 billion breakup fee. On the plus side, Adobe got 15 months of looking under the hood of a super popular product design software used by big brands such as Netflix, Spotify, and Coinbase, among others. Adobe is now likely to beef up its own collaboration tool XD.
• Figma designers worldwide, breathe easy. After the merger was first announced, the design community saw it as a move to tear down Adobe’s fast-rising competitor. Figma is free to continue existing on its own without the prospects of a killer-merger threat. In the end, it was all a Figma of Adobe’s imagination.