What does Adobe intend to acquire Figma for 140 billion yuan? -China Business Network

Our reporter Qin Xiao reported in Beijing

On September 15, Adobe, a well-known graphics, image and other software manufacturer, announced that it will acquire Figma, an online design collaboration tool platform, for a total of about US$20 billion (about 140 billion yuan) in half cash and half stock. The transaction is expected to Completion in 2023.

Dylan Field, CEO of Figma, publicly stated last year: “Our goal is only Figma, not Adobe.” Now, Figma will be owned by Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE).

Internet industry observer Zhang Shule analyzed the reporter of “China Business News”: “Figma, as a competitor of Adobe, is driven by cloud computing, cloud office, home office and other trends, this acquisition is not for snow, but in an independent In this state, an online collaboration support with Adobe series software is formed, Adobe’s ‘cloud turnaround’ is realized, and a new industry situation of 1+1>2 is achieved.”

Intended to open up the cloud market

According to relevant data, Figma was established in 2012. It is a web-based interface design collaboration tool that can save projects in the cloud at all times, so that multiple users can comment or modify designs in real time.

Guotai Junan Securities said in a research report that Figma is a software that can be used on all platforms. As long as users can open web pages, they can theoretically use this tool. It does not need to occupy local memory for storing files, and can even design Share it with everyone as a link. As of the end of July 2021, Figma is valued at $10 billion after its Series E financing.

According to the announcement issued by Adobe’s official website, Adobe will acquire a total of about 20 billion US dollars in cash and stock, of which about half is in cash and half in stock, and adjusted according to custom. About 6 million additional restricted shares will be awarded to Figma’s CEO and employees over a four-year period following the closing of the deal.

It is worth noting that, according to public information, as of September 2, Adobe held less than $4 billion in cash and equivalents.

Zhang Shule told reporters that Adobe, as the top giant in the global graphics and image field, although its cash flow is not as good as Apple’s, it is the most prudent and determined way to choose a mixed cash-stock transaction. There will be pressure, but it will not be great.

Jefferies (JEF) analyst Brent Thill said the deal “looks expensive.” Figma has a leading tool in UI/UX design with a loyal following, and it competes with ADBE DX, a web and app design tool. Combining Figma with Adobe’s Creative Cloud “should make Adobe’s complete solution even more compelling,” said Brent Thill.

Compared with the transaction price, industry insiders are more worried that if the transaction goes through, Figma’s future independence may be uncertain.

However, Dylan Field said: “Adobe will keep Figma autonomous in the future, and we have no current plans to adjust Figma pricing, including continuing to offer free options for educational users.”

Adobe also said in a statement: “Adobe’s mission is to change the world through digital experiences. Figma’s mission is to help teams collaborate visually and make design accessible to everyone. Adobe’s integration with Figma will reimagine creative The future of power and productivity, accelerate creativity for the Web, advance product design, and inspire a global community of creators, designers and developers. The combined company will create greater value for customers, shareholders and the industry.”

Zhang Shule analyzed that the cloud is becoming a new demand in the design field, and Adobe may realize the “cloud turn” through acquisitions, quickly connect with global Adobe users, and achieve more possibilities in C-side, B-side and design collaboration. Light applications become heavy applications.

For more details on the acquisition, the reporter called and wrote to Adobe and Figma. As of press time, no reply has been received.

Promote domestic ecology?

Although Adobe and Figma are full of reverie about this acquisition, the merger of the two parties may make a group of domestic designers turn to domestic alternatives.

At present, Sketch, Adobe XD, PS, and Figma are still the main productivity tools for UI designers in China. A UI designer told reporters: “Figma should be one of the tools with the best user experience in the past 5 years, a real productivity engine. After being acquired by Adobe, I hope it will still be the same as before. But ‘just in case something happens’ ‘, I’m already trying domestic products.”

At present, the most used prototyping software in China include online collaboration software such as Blue Lake, Instant Design, Mock, and Moktor, which can do both UI design and prototyping.

Tencent CDC’s “White Paper on New Internet Design Talents in China’s UX Industry in 2021” shows that in the two major groups of visual design and interaction design, domestic products Blue Lake, Photoshop, Sketch, and Illustrator have become the four most widely used software.

Blue Lake calls itself the Chinese version of Figma. It is a product design collaboration platform driven by improving the production efficiency of Internet products in China. Its main online collaboration products are aimed at UI designers, front-end engineers, product managers and other groups of people, assisting the Internet product team to carry out Real-time collaboration for product design and management.

In 2021, Blue Lake completed three rounds of financing, with the C+ round of financing reaching 1 billion yuan, with the participation of well-known investment institutions such as Sequoia Capital and Jinshajiang Venture Capital.

According to the information disclosed by the company, at present, the penetration rate of Blue Lake in the top 100 of the Internet industry has reached 98%, and the products have been adopted by more than 500,000 digital product teams.

(Editor: Wu Qing proofreading: Yan Jingning)