On Adobe Acquiring Figma
Week 74 of Founding Typogram
The full post used to be live here on this page, but I have since moved it to its new home on my #Build series archive, read the full article here:
Last year when I woke up to the news that Adobe would acquire Figma for $20 billion, my jaw dropped to the floor, and so did the Adobe stock price that I was holding a significant amount of. I shared my opinion on the acquisition as an ex-employee of Adobe XD, a direct competitor product of Figma that was built in-house. With the latest news that the Department of Justice may block Adobe’s Figma acquisition on the grounds of anti-competition, it is fitting to reshare my thoughts on that matter. Today’s issue is a re-run of “On Adobe Acquiring Figma,” written in September of 2022.
When I wrote this newsletter issue, I was very torn on what I hoped to happen. Partially I wanted this to be blocked because competition creates more options for customers to choose from. I would like Adobe XD to grow alongside Figma, compete with one another, and both become better and stay affordable. But on the other hand, I was careful about what I wished for. I am bootstrapping my company Typogram, and I currently live off my savings and stock holdings, which dropped 30% in the week of the acquisition announcement. If the deal were to be then blocked further down the road, I need to mentally prepare for another round of stock price drop. I think, speaking from a personal point of view, it was a lose-lose situation the moment the acquisition was announced.