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Tag: Figma

  • Adobe abandons $20B acquisition of Figma

    Adobe abandons $20B acquisition of Figma

    Jess Weatherbed reporting at The Verge writes:

    Following mounting pressure from regulators in the UK and EU, Adobe and Figma announced on Monday that both companies are mutually terminating their merger agreement, which would have seen Adobe acquire the Figma product design platform for $20 billion.

    As a result of the termination, Adobe will be required to pay Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion in cash.

    It’s a Christmas miracle! The competition in the field of creative/graphic design software is horrendous, so this is definitely good news if you’re a creative. The last time I wrote about this merger, I had a feeling the deal was going to be torn apart. Theoretically, this news means lower prices and more innovation down the road as Adobe and Figma compete for customers. This is also yet another sign that the United States has largely abdicated its regulatory authority to the European Commission.

  • Adobe set to acquire Figma for $20B

    Adobe set to acquire Figma for $20B

    Big news yesterday in the tech world. Adobe likely minted a few millionaires with this deal. Figma was snatched up by Adobe for $20B

    For years, Figma stood headstrong in its’ resolution that collaboration in design tools begins and ends on the web — and they’re right. Productivity tools such as video creation, document collaboration, email, and even cloud storage (Dropbox) have had tremendous growth.

    Adobe’s humble beginning began way back in the 1980’s at Xerox PARC long before Tim Berners-Lee’s proposal on the web in 1989 was published. Ever since Sketch entered the market, the design tool market is becoming increasingly crowded. Adobe was once was a Goliath organization. A looming tower so large that no one dare take them on. Well, Figma gave them a really good run for their money.

    Chances are, Adobe was forced to make such a ludicrous offer, the board (and the founders) couldn’t refuse. For years, Figma has been eating Adobe’s lunch. They’ve been on buying spree building a moat around their Creative Cloud garden. Make no mistake, this deal will be bad for knowledge & design workers in the long-term, as design tool choices begin to dry up, and users are forced into Adobe’s suite of creative tools. If past is precedent, Figma will be slowly rolled into their brand and ecosystem and we’ll all be worse off for it. They’ll slowly raise the pricing, and lock us into expensive yearly plans to get access to Figma’s effortless product.

    How is the design world feeling about this? Well, this kind of hits the nail on the head:

    This won’t be the last we hear about Adobe + Figma. For now, pricing will remain unchanged, and educational account will continue to be free.

    This won’t be the last acquisition we’ll see from Adobe, but it might be last one that tops $20B.

  • Sketch Will Buy Figma

    Sketch Will Buy Figma

    Chaker Bejaoui, writing for Prototypr:

    The ecosystem that Sketch has built around it is impressive. If you put Sketch together with Craft, InVision and Zeplin, the package suddenly becomes very competitive and attractive. You can go from designing, prototyping, to testing and shipping the ideas. And if on top of that you add simultaneous collaboration, a better shared revision history and a browser app allowing Windows users to play with Sketch, you are still ahead of Adobe.

    Currently there are 3 tools facing each other to win the love of designers: Sketch, Adobe XD & Figma.

    There is not enough space for 3 big players. Only 2 at the end will remain to hold most of the market share (e.g. Windows/Mac, Android/iOS, Uber/Lyft). Other smaller competitors will share what is left behind.

    For sure XD will be one of the two.

    If Sketch wants to remain one of the biggest player, it has to buy Figma.

    He’s completely in the right. There’s just simply too many players on the field. If Figma and Sketch knows what’s good for them, this sale will happen sooner rather than later.