Adobe buying Figma in £17.4 billion cash-and-stock deal

Software company Adobe is buying online design company Figma in a cash-and-stock deal worth 20 billion US dollars (£17.4 billion).

Figma, founded in 2012, allows those who design interactive mobile and web applications to collaborate through multi-player workflows, sophisticated design systems and a rich developer ecosystem.

The companies said Figma’s web-based, multiplayer capabilities will accelerate the delivery of Adobe’s creative cloud technologies on the web, making the creative process more productive and accessible to more people.

California-based Adobe sells software for creating, publishing and promoting content and managing documents.

“With Adobe’s amazing innovation and expertise, especially in 3D, video, vector, imaging and fonts, we can further reimagine end-to-end product design in the browser, while building new tools and spaces to empower customers to design products faster and more easily,” Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field said in a statement.

Each company will run independently until the transaction closes.

At that time, Mr Field, who will continue to lead the Figma team, will report to David Wadhwani, president of Adobe’s Digital Media business.

The deal is expected to close next year.

It still needs approval from Figma’s shareholders.

Adobe’s stock fell more than 9% before the market opened on Thursday.