Adobe’s billion-dollar Figma acquisition: EU launches in-depth investigation

Almost a year after Adobe announced that it intends to take over its competitor Figma for 20 billion US dollars, the European Commission has now announced an in-depth investigation. The merger could “impair competition in the global markets for the provision of interactive product design software and tools for creating digital resources,” the Commission fears. In the interactive production design tools business, the merger of market leader Figma with one of its largest competitors would eliminate a key competitive force. At the same time, Figma is prevented from becoming an effective competitor in Adobe’s core business.

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Restriction of competition?

Adobe announced the planned acquisition in mid-September 2022; it is the largest in the company’s history to date. According to the EU Commission, the project was reported on June 30th and a decision must be made there by December 14th. Figma has been providing collaborative web tools for product design since 2012, Figma Design is a design software tool and FigJam is an online whiteboard. Adobe, in turn, offers tools for creating and editing digital content, which are bundled in the so-called Creative Cloud. The EU now wants to determine, among other things, to what extent the competition could be excluded from this market by bundling the products at Adobe.

The detailed examination is intended to determine whether these competition concerns are confirmed, according to Brussels. But that doesn’t have to be the case. “Many users and companies rely on their digital design tools to achieve excellent results. With our in-depth investigation, we want to ensure that users continue to have access to and choice from a wide range of digital creative tools,” said the responsible EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Adobe and Figma said they would close the acquisition before the end of 2023.

(my)

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