Adobe appears to be in the crosshairs of the EU competition watchdog. At issue is the design software giant’s attempt to acquire Figma.
Figma is a Web application that allows users to create user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs among other capabilities. Adobe put forward $20 billion (€18.2 billion) to acquire the company. As with previous acquisitions, the main aim for Adobe appears to be to solidify its dominance for providing software to creatives. Anyone who wants to design something can hardly ignore Adobe Creative Cloud as a result.
That inevitably leads to suspicion from competition watchdogs. Earlier, Britain’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) was already looking into the acquisition. Financial Times also reported that U.S. authorities are preparing a lawsuit to counter the acquisition.
Unusual
Although competition watchdogs from both the EU and the U.K. are eager to have their say, it is at least a bit unusual that Brussels is picking up on this in the first place. This is because Figma’s sales figures in Europe are lower than those of companies that generally appear on the watchdogs’ radar.
However, the actions of the CMA and its European counterpart are unsurprising overall. Adobe is by far the most significant player as far as design software is concerned. In monitoring Microsoft’s takeover attempt of Activision Blizzard, this is not even the case, for example, because neither party currently leads the market in the gaming industry. Still, that takeover attempt has as many dollars involved as it has question marks over it.
Tip: As British regulator blocks move, EC approves Activision Blizzard takeover
Incidentally, the investigative push was not unexpected for Adobe. It stated that it anticipated “lengthy reviews” into the nature of the acquisition. According to the company, however, the acquisition is permissible because only 10 per cent of Photoshop users also use Figma.
1 day ago
