Adobe Inc.’s $20 billion takeover of design software company Figma Inc. faces a merger review by European Union officials as global regulators continue to scrutinize record-breaking deals in the digital economy.
The European Commission said in a website filing that it set a provisional deadline of Aug. 7 to decide whether to open an in-depth probe into the acquisition or to clear it. The Commission’s website, updated on Monday, said that the deal - Adobe’s largest ever - was notified on June 30.
The deal will give American software player Adobe control of world-leading web design platform Figma, in a move described by Adobe chair and chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen as “transformational.” Some of Figma’s competitors include services provided by Adobe, including their Premiere Pro CC and XD products.
“We remain confident in the merits of the case as Figma’s product design is an adjacency to Adobe’s core creative products and Adobe has no meaningful plans to compete in the product design space,” a company spokesperson said. “We look forward to establishing these facts in the next phase of the process.”
Adobe’s mega deal is already being probed by the UK’s competition watchdog, and the merging parties have also filed information to the US Department of Justice, as a means to get the regulatory green light.
Attempts by UK and US regulators to block Microsoft Corp.’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of games developer Activision-Blizzard have placed more scrutiny on headline-grabbing digital deals globally.
Microsoft’s appeals against the US Federal Trade Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s decisions are now playing out in national courts.
--With assistance from Katharine Gemmell.
