Adobe buys Figma, the collaborative design platform, for $20 billion

Figma's value has skyrocketed.

The collaborative internet design application was worth 2 billion dollars in 2020, 10 billion in 2021 and has just been acquired by Adobe for 20 billion dollars (a similar figure in euros), as reported by the company based in San Jose (California).

About half the price is paid in cash, with funds Adobe already has, or, if necessary, with a loan.

The other half, with the issuance of new shares.

In addition, Adobe will give an incentive of six million shares (valued at nearly $2 billion at current prices) to Figma's boss and employees.

The high price paid for the acquisition has caused a sharp drop in the stock market of Adobe, which is worth just over 150,000 million dollars.

The price has opened the session this Thursday with decreases close to 15%, also penalized by quarterly results somewhat worse than expected.

It has achieved a profit of 1,140 million dollars, after raising revenues by 13%, to 4,430 million.

The strength of the dollar has penalized their accounts due to the exchange impact on income abroad.

The operation is expected to close in 2023, following the necessary authorizations and approval by the Figma shareholders' meeting.

Following the purchase, Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, will continue to lead the company, reporting to David Wadhwani, head of Adobe's digital media business.

Figma was founded by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace in 2012, when they were both studying computer science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The goal was to create a collaborative design tool that is easy for anyone to use.

He was immediately successful.

“Today, it's making it possible for everyone who builds interactive web and mobile apps to collaborate through shared workflows, sophisticated design systems, and a rich and extensible developer ecosystem.

Figma has attracted a new generation of millions of designers and developers and a group of loyal students”, explains Adobe in the statement announcing the operation.

your biggest purchase

For the Californian firm, this is the largest operation in its history, well above previous purchases.

The largest so far was the acquisition of Marketo for $4.75 billion in 2018. Adobe specializes in software for graphics, photography, illustration, animation, multimedia/video, film and print creation and publishing.

Its flagship products are the Adobe Photoshop image editing program;

the illustration Adobe Illustrator;

and the Adobe Acrobat Reader document editor and reader, which has universalized the “Portable Document Format” (PDF).

It has evolved into subscription services and digital marketing and customer management tools.

The transaction will see some convergence between the two companies' solutions, bringing the powerful capabilities of Adobe's imaging, photography, illustration, video, 3D and font technology to the Figma platform, which Adobe says will benefit all parties involved. in the product design process, from designers to product managers to developers.

Figma has an impressive 90% operating margin and is growing at a strong rate.

This year it is expected to double its annual recurring revenue to $400 million.

It is targeting a market valued at about $16.5 billion in 2025, according to Adobe.

"Adobe's greatness has been built on our ability to create new categories and deliver cutting-edge technologies through organic innovation and inorganic acquisitions," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, in a statement.

"The combination of Adobe and Figma is transformative and will accelerate our vision of collaborative creativity," he added.