Adobe acquires Figma for $20 bln

The multinational software company Adobe has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire the web-based collaborative platform Figma for approximately $20 billion in cash and stock, as per a recent official announcement by Adobe. 

Founded in 2012, Figma is an online collaboration tool that helps team members work together real-time on web designs. Since its introduction, this open-source cloud-based app has received much love from its users, and for a long time it was considered a direct competitor of Adobe XD, Adobe's very own UI/UX design and collaboration software. 

In the announcement, Adobe stated that Figma's web-based, multi-player features will help improve the web capabilities of Adobe's Creative Cloud technologies, thus increasing Adobe's overall accessibility and ease of use. Adobe also intends to add their own imaging, illustration, font and 3D editing features on Figma. According to Shantanu Narayen, CEO and Chairman of Adobe, the combination of Adobe and Figma will "accelerate the vision for collaborative creativity". 

Adobe also plans on empowering the designer and developer community by bringing the userbase of both platforms closer together and "unlock the future of collaborative design". Dylan Field, CEO and co-founder of Figma, stated that the merger will give Figma users access to new tools to produce web-based designs and products faster and more easily. Dylan will continue to be the CEO of Figma once the transaction officially closes, and will be reporting to the President of Adobe's Digital Media business, David Wadhwani. 

Until the transaction closes, the two companies will continue to perform independently. However, no official confirmation has yet been made on what will happen to Figma once Adobe takes over. Dylan has expressed in a blog post that Adobe is "deeply committed to keeping Figma operating autonomously" and that he will continue leading the Figma team as he has been doing so thus far. Dylan believes that this acquisition will help Figma grow into a better collaborative platform for all its dedicated users.

In an interview with Tech Crunch in 2015, Dylan had said that Adobe doesn't understand collaboration and that Adobe Creative Cloud is "really cloud in name only". While many initially heralded Figma as a fighting competitor against Adobe, it seems Figma being bought by its competitor means one less hurdle for the giant company to deal with.