The Figma + Adobe Deal, Explained | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma’s post explains why it believed its proposed acquisition by Adobe would benefit users and withstand regulatory scrutiny. It presents Figma as a collaborative tool for building digital products, distinct from Adobe’s traditional creative software, and emphasizes a broad, fast-changing competitive landscape. However, the deal was ultimately abandoned on December 18, 2023, after the companies concluded that regulatory approval was unlikely.

Figma’s Role in Digital Product Development

• Figma describes itself as a web-based platform for teams building apps and websites.
• Its tools support multiple stages of development:
  • FigJam for brainstorming and concepting
  • Figma for interface design and prototyping
  • Dev Mode for helping developers translate designs into code
• The company says it spent thousands of hours explaining its products and market to competition regulators.

Product Design vs. Traditional Graphic Design

• Figma focuses on creating interactive digital products rather than static advertisements, illustrations, or posters.
• Building an app or website requires collaboration among designers, developers, product managers, and other specialists.
• This broader, team-oriented workflow has contributed to the growth of the product development software market.

A Broad and Competitive Market

• Figma portrays its market as highly dynamic, with both comprehensive platforms and specialized tools.
• Competitors and adjacent products mentioned include:
  • Sketch, Penpot, and Figma
  • Miro, Flinto, Anima, ProtoPie, and Zeplin
  • Salesforce’s low-code development tools
• The company argues that new startups and products enter the market frequently, while AI is accelerating innovation.
• Figma says its competitive landscape slide became outdated only three weeks after it was created.

Adobe’s Position

• Adobe XD had previously competed with Figma but was placed into maintenance mode after Adobe stopped developing new features.
• Photoshop and Illustrator serve different purposes, such as photo editing and advanced illustration.
• Figma argues that those tools are not designed for collaborative website and application development.

The Proposed Benefits of Combining Figma and Adobe

• Figma contributes collaborative product design and development expertise.
• Adobe contributes widely used creative tools and access to hundreds of millions of users.
• Figma argued that the companies’ complementary strengths could create new consumer benefits, including closer connections between design, creativity, and product development.
• The proposed acquisition was announced on September 15, 2022, as a major collaboration between the companies.

Regulatory Outcome

• Despite Figma’s efforts to demonstrate that the deal would benefit users and occur in a competitive market, regulatory concerns continued for fifteen months.
• On December 18, 2023, Figma and Adobe abandoned the proposed acquisition because they no longer saw a path to regulatory approval.