Adobe’s ambition to add Figma to its list of products is on the rise.
Announced last September, the colossal operation of acquisition of Figma by Adobe, for an amount estimated at 20 billion dollars, could finally fall into the water. We will at least have to wait for the conclusions of the European competition regulators, who must first ensure that it does not call into question free competition. And the case may be difficult to defend for Adobe.
The EU gives itself until December to decide
Last September, when Adobe announced that it had reached an agreement to buy the Figma design software, many regulators were looking into the matter. It must be said that there is reason: this product is the main competitor of one of its most popular services, Adobe XD, which has almost disappeared from the suite since this announcement. For the EU, this operation threatens “significantly affect competition in this market”. The announced price, around 20 billion dollars (WhatsApp had been purchased for 19 billion), also raises questions, being considered to be largely overvalued.
These points caught the attention of at least 16 EU member countries, who therefore asked the European Commission to investigate the operation. The latter has therefore decided to look into the matter, and should make its conclusions which will indicate whether or not it is anti-competitive practices, and this, by December 14 of this year. Figma’s ambition to finalize this takeover in 2023 is therefore not completely buried, but its future remains very uncertain.
European regulators are not alone
If the European Union is generally much more restrictive in terms of user protection than its counterparts outside the continent, not hesitating in particular to rain down hundreds of millions of dollars in fines on companies that do not comply with its rules, its regulators are not the only ones this time to follow the takeover project very closely.
Indeed, for once, it was the competition authorities of the United States and the United Kingdom who took the lead, launching similar investigations into this acquisition, respectively last March and June. In the United Kingdom, the file is considered sufficiently serious to be taken into “stage 2”after Adobe and Figma failed to provide requested documents to defend themselves against accusations of anticompetitive practices.
Hopefully, unlike the Activision takeover, the decision this time is clear and final.
Source : The Verge, Century Digital
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