Adobe's $20B Figma acquisition will likely face antitrust scrutiny over whether the deal would snuff out competition or harm consumers by taking away choices
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Context & Ripple Effects
Adobe agreed to pay $20B for Figma — roughly 50x Figma's reported $400M 2022 ARR — a price that immediately raised questions about whether the deal was defensive M&A against free alternatives rather than a bet on growth. Antitrust concerns surfaced within days, with analysts asking whether absorbing Figma would eliminate competition and reduce consumer choice in design tools.
First-order effects
Regulators moved from questions to formal review: the European Commission opened a full-scale Phase 2 investigation after its preliminary review found the deal may reduce competition, joining a parallel UK probe.
Second-order effects
Adobe declined to offer remedies to clear the EU probe (refusing concessions on potential competition concerns), which hardened the regulatory standoff and left Figma operating independently under a cloud of deal uncertainty.
Third-order effects
With the deal stalled by regulatory challenges and Adobe shifting attention to AI, the pattern points toward incumbents losing the option of buying their way out of competitive threats — pricing future acquisitions of fast-growing rivals at the risk of multi-year blockage.
The trend: Antitrust authorities are increasingly willing to derail mega-acquisitions of nascent product rivals, turning 'buy the competitor' into a strategy incumbents can no longer count on.
feels like Figma : Adobe has undertones of Instagram : Facebook/meta In the sense that ten years from now figma will be everything for adobe, and this deal will look freakishly cheap
The acquisition could open up an appetite for more deals, whether it's Big Tech companies looking to bolster their businesses or startup founders now willing to partner instead of going it alone. https://www.protocol.com/...
“Many years ago, when Adobe bought Macromedia, they acquired a tool called Fireworks. Fireworks was cheap, powerful, and hugely ahead of its time. After the acquisition, Adobe starved Fireworks of resources and marketing.” https://mattstoller.substack.com/ ...
In 2010, @peterthiel announced the Thiel Fellowship, a $100K stipend for entrepreneurs to start businesses and forego college for 2 years. In 2012, Dylan Field became a Fellow and co-founded @Figma. Last week, Figma was sold to @Adobe for $20 billion. https://www.bloomberg.com/..…
Read @AdamNash's brilliant lesson about the importance of people, woven into a poignant story about investing in Figma and @Zoink. This mirrors my own values, and investing in people is what @Neo is all about. I couldn't have said it better myself. https://adamnash.blog/... https…
Given the news yesterday @Figma, decided to share one small story about that seed round, with a personal lesson. Features @zoink, @johnolilly, @dpatil, and even a tweet from 2013. Figma: A Random Walk in Palo Alto https://adamnash.blog/...
“The key is always to work the problem, and always work to avoid the destructive HiPPO anti-pattern. (HiPPO = the highest paid person's opinion)” https://twitter.com/...
TIL that @figma co-founder Dylan Field is the son of legendary South End Rowing Club (@AlcatrazSERC ) member Andy Field. Somehow @realrobcopeland omitted this fact from his profile, but nevertheless it is an excellent piece. https://www.wsj.com/...
I talked to Adobe's Scott Belsky and Figma's Dylan Field about the massive acquisition announced this week. They've seen some of the blowback, and insist they'll work to earn the trust of users who love and rely on Figma every day. https://www.theverge.com/...
Exciting news today! @Adobe is acquiring @Figma, bringing together two pioneers in design. I'm looking forward to seeing what these talented teams produce together. One key thing stood out to me: the through line across this and Adobe's other recent large acquisitions.
“Asked if he was now, in the Silicon Valley vernacular, a tech bro, he demurred. 'don't know,' he said. ‘You tell me.’” @WSJ @realrobcopeland $ADBE #Figma https://www.wsj.com/...
30-year-old Field is now worth over $2 billion. I asked him what it's like to no longer be a billionaire just on paper & he said he's not getting ahead of himself. “First of all the deal hasn't closed,” he said, claiming that $ also isn't important to him https://www.bloomberg.co…
Here's a weird fact: Before he became the latest billionaire, Dylan Field lobbied Peter Thiel's fellowship program to add criteria that would grade applicants based on how nice they are https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Great stuff from @hunterwalk on Adobe/Figma. At least this one will eventually be additive unlike, say, WhatsApp. That was 99% about taking a competitor out of the market. Whether FB ever monetizes it is open question. It's been more than 8 yrs https://hunterwalk.medium.com/ ...
“What you should realize is that Adobe was only able to make this acquisition because they escaped the old business model and were rewarded with a market cap that hit $200b+ over the last 12-24 months.” 🎯 Shantanu Narayen has been one of the best turnaround CEOs https://twitter.c…