Adobe’s $20 billion Figma deal may be in trouble, with EU Commission weighing whether to launch an antitrust probe.
Adobe announced in September that it had struck a deal with Figma to acquire the startup for $20 billion. Figma has been gaining in popularity, providing a web-based competitor to Adobe’s tools at a fraction of the cost. Almost immediately, the deal was met with angst and anger from users, many of whom were using the product specifically because they did not want, or could not afford, to use Adobe’s products.
According to Bloomberg, the European Commission has received a number of requests from member states to probe the deal. The number of requests evidently fell below the threshold that would normally trigger a probe, but the Commission did acknowledge that the deal could “significantly affect competition.”
The Commission will ask Adobe to notify the transaction, meaning the companies will need EU clearance to proceed.
“We look forward to working constructively with the European Commission to address its questions and bring the review to a timely close,” a Figma spokesperson told Bloomberg.