Adobe’s $20 billion bid for Figma in jeopardy after EU warning

Adobe has been the subject of a formal antitrust complaint from EU regulators over its $20 billion bid for cloud-based product design platform Figma. Following a thorough investigation which was launched August 7the European Commission has reached the preliminary conclusion Friday that if the deal goes through, it could “significantly reduce competition in global markets” for the provision of interactive product design tools, vector editing tools and raster editing tools.

The Commission has published a statement of objections setting out its competition concerns. This highlights that EU officials believe Figma already exerts “significant constraining influence” over Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop editing tools, and is “very likely” to become a competitive force in the market. vector and raster editing tools without merging.

The Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of the EU investigation, the deadline for which is still February 5. Adobe and Figma can now respond to objections in writing with concessions addressing the Commission’s specific regulatory concerns and request a hearing, after which the Commission will decide whether the acquisition violates antitrust law.

“We remain confident in the merits of our case, as the design of Figma’s products is adjacent to Adobe’s core creative products and Adobe does not intend to compete meaningfully in the field of product design,” an Adobe spokesperson said. a declaration to Bloomberg. A Figma spokesperson also said Bloomberg “We are confident in our ability to address regulators’ concerns and will continue to engage in constructive conversations focused on the benefits this agreement will create for consumers and the European innovation economy.”

To date, Adobe and Figma have reportedly not offered any remedies to address the antitrust concerns raised by the investigation. Adobe has already started phase out availability of Adobe XD – a UX/UI product design app that has similarities to Figma – earlier this year, after the deal was announced. The Commission now says that discontinuing Adobe acquired.