Last week’s $20 billion purchase of design firm Figma by software giant Adobe, the company’s biggest ever buyout, was a big payday for early members. Because Figma was still privately owned, it was valued at $10 billion last year and Adobe has just paid double that to buy it out. Forbes reported on September 21 that $2.3 billion in restricted stock units will be granted to employees, while founder Dylan Field will receive $1 billion as a result of the deal.
Figma, an online collaboration platform that enables designers to collaborate on projects and create prototypes, is a powerful tool that has attracted over four million users. Figma specializes in designing and prototyping in a fast, cloud-based environment, and many designers are using it because of its simplicity. Adobe has been acquiring and building numerous digital businesses throughout design, marketing, and other fields in order to expand its reach and expertise in different areas. Because Adobe’s roots are in design, it has developed a variety of popular applications in areas such as imaging (e.g., Photoshop), fonts, illustrations, video, 3D, and more.
During the pandemic, Figma gained popularity because it was an easy-to-use interface design software. In recent years, Figma has become a major competitor to Adobe, which also provides similar design tools. Microsoft designers have even turned to Figma as an alternative to Adobe, despite the fact that Microsoft has been a longtime ally of Adobe.
Some people in the design world were dismayed when Adobe acquired Figma because they feared that the company would become less open or accessible as a result. Others, in contrast, celebrated the merger, noting that it would enable them to continue using Figma’s tools rather than having to create them themselves. Figma’s mission is to ‘make design universally accessible,’ and the firm provides a free version of its software. In contrast, Adobe has been slammed for overcharging for its products.
In a LinkedIn post, Amazon product manager Fabio Brocca wondered whether Figma’s engineers would remain committed to the company’s vision with a new leadership team, new processes, and a new culture. He theorized that Figma and Adobe may seem very different to the outside world, and that an employee might have joined Figma for reasons other than those that motivated him now that the company has been acquired.
