Adobe’s acquisition of Figma has been officially terminated. The companies state this is the result of a joint decision. Getting the acquisition past regulators would have proved to be too complicated.
Both the European Commission and the UK market authority are obstructing Adobe’s acquisition of Figma. They need to manage competitiveness in the market, and Adobe and Figma’s deal would create too much risk for the market of design tools and software. Both authorities previously shared which concerns in particular needed to be addressed. According to Adobe and Figma, the requirements are not in proportion. They state that “there is no clear path to obtain the necessary approvals from the European Commission and the UK CMA.”
In the same statement Monday morning, the companies decided to call off the acquisition plans. With this, the deal announced in September 2022 with a cost of 20 billion euros will not be completed.
Determination to disappointment
Earlier, Adobe still sounded determined to address the European Commission’s concerns. Adobe was willing to divest Adobe XD, a product that resembles what Figma offers. Further, it did not want to include Figma in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite.
Now disappointment is heard, “Adobe and Figma absolutely disagree with the recent findings of the regulators, but we believe it is in our best interest to move forward independently,” said Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe.
Collaborations on the horizon
Although the acquisition plans are now completely off the table, Figma’s announcement states that the companies will not continue to pursue their paths completely independently. “While we are leaving that future behind and continuing as an independent company, we are excited to find ways to partner for our users.”
Despite the dissatisfaction of the companies involved, the news will come as a relief to many developers. They saw the acquisition as a threat to the rapid developments Figma was making and the free or price-friendly use of the tool.