[TECHCRUNCH] Europe confirms in-depth probe for Adobe’s $20B Figma acquisition

figma balls

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The European Commission (EC) has confirmed that it’s opening an in-depth investigation into Adobe’s proposed $20 billion bid for digital design software rival Figma.

The Commission said that the acquisition “may reduce competition in the global markets for the supply of interactive product design software and for digital asset creation tools.”

First announced last September, Adobe’s megabucks bid for one of its biggest competitors was always likely to attract scrutiny from regulators around the globe, with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) looking closely at the deal and the U.K. also recently confirming that it was preparing a deeper probe on the basis that the merger would lead to a “substantial lessening of competition” in the U.K for designers.

“Adobe and Figma are two leading providers of software for the creative community in the digital sphere,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EC’s executive vice-president for competition policy, in a statement.

With our in-depth investigation we aim to ensure that users continue to have access to a wide pool of digital creative tools among which to choose.”

While Europe does have a fairly robust track record of late in terms of investigation Big Tech acquisitions, it has also shown that it’s reluctant to block deals outright.

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Adobe wish they could get out of the deal. 40B, that's a ridiculous froth price. Bet it would be half valuation currently.