Source: the DOJ is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit to block Adobe's $20B Figma acquisition as soon as March; Adobe expects to close the deal in 2023
The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Adobe Inc.'s $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
Context & Ripple Effects
The DOJ's move escalates from last November, when sources said it was preparing an in-depth probe into the deal and had begun contacting Figma customers, competitors, and investors — a sign it was building a factual record rather than rubber-stamping one. A lawsuit filed as soon as March would convert that inquiry into a formal attempt to kill Adobe's largest-ever acquisition.
The stakes trace back to the deal's own filing: Adobe made multiple runs at Figma across 2020 and 2021 before co-founder Dylan Field accepted, with Microsoft also circling — evidence that Figma was the most contested asset in collaborative design, not a distressed sale.
First-order effects
- Adobe's stated timeline of closing the $20B deal in 2023 collapses if the DOJ files, forcing the company into a prolonged court fight or a retreat rather than integration of Figma into its Creative Cloud franchise.
- Figma remains an independent company under Dylan Field, preserving the standalone trajectory — and the buyer optionality — that attracted Adobe and Microsoft in the first place.
Second-order effects
- Design-software rivals competing with both Adobe's suite and Figma get a reprieve from absorption into Adobe's bundle, keeping the market's pricing and product pressure distributed rather than consolidated.
- Adobe's M&A playbook takes a hit: any successor target with overlapping design or creative-collaboration capabilities now carries a higher regulatory discount, pushing the company toward smaller or adjacent deals instead.
Third-order effects
- A successful DOJ block would establish that US enforcers will sue to stop dominant incumbents from buying fast-growing startups on head-to-head competition grounds — raising the cost of the acquisition-as-exit model for venture-backed software companies.
- If blocking becomes routine, founders and investors shift exit expectations toward independence and public listings, changing which startups get funded and how large they must grow before a sale makes sense.
The trend: Antitrust authorities in the US and abroad are increasingly willing to block dominant platform companies from acquiring the startups that compete with them, making acquisition a less reliable exit for high-growth software firms.