Adobe continues to face increased scrutiny from regulators as it examines the company’s acquisition of cloud-based design platform Figma. It is reported that this time the European Commission has sent an official antitrust complaint to Adobe. Representatives of the European Union’s main industrial regulator believed the deal would harm competition.
Image source: blog.adobe.com
The European Commission expects Adobe to acquire the Figma platform for $20 billion “will significantly reduce competition on world markets” in providing interactive product design tools as well as vector and raster editing tools. The regulator’s preliminary statement raises concerns that the conclusion of the Adobe-Figma deal will significantly harm competition. The regulator emphasizes that Figma provides “Significant deterrent effect” to Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop editing tools and also saves them “high probability” for further expanding competitive strength in the market for vector and raster editing tools.
The European Commission’s current opinion is preliminary and does not represent the outcome of the entire investigation, which is scheduled to be completed by February 5, 2024. However, Adobe and Figma can already respond to the regulator’s signal by proposing certain changes to the terms of the contract so that the European Commission does not consider this to harm competition. On this issue, representatives from Adobe and Figma expressed confidence that they can convince regulators that the deal will not harm competition in the vector and raster editing market.
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