List of acquisitions by Adobe

Last updated

Adobe logo Adobe Corporate logo.svg
Adobe logo
Adobe headquarters in San Jose Adobe HQ.jpg
Adobe headquarters in San Jose

Adobe Inc. is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California. In 1982, John Warnock and Charles Geschke left Xerox PARC and established Adobe to develop and sell the PostScript page description language. [1] Apple Computer licensed PostScript in 1985 for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution. [2] The company has acquired 25 companies, purchased stakes in five, and divested six, most of which were software companies. Of the companies that Adobe has acquired, 18 were based in the United States. Adobe has not released the financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions.

Contents

Adobe's first acquisition was Emerald City Software in March 1990. In August 1994, the company acquired Aldus Corporation, a Seattle-based software company credited with creating the desktop publishing industry with its PageMaker software. [3] The company's products were integrated into Adobe's product line later in the year, and re-branded as Adobe PageMaker and Adobe After Effects; [4] Aldus also owned the TIFF file format, transferring ownership to Adobe. [5] In October 1995, Adobe acquired the desktop publishing software company Frame Technology for US$566 million, and re-branded its FrameMaker software to Adobe FrameMaker. [6] Adobe acquired GoLive Systems in January 1999 and obtained its CyberStudio HTML editor software, releasing it as Adobe GoLive. [7] In May 2003, Adobe acquired Syntrillium Software and its digital audio editor software Cool Edit Pro, and merged it into its product line, re-releasing it as Adobe Audition. [8]

In the 1990s, Adobe purchased a minority stake in four companies, and it purchased a stake in one company in the 2000s. Adobe has also divested six companies, in which parts of the company are sold to another company. All of its divestments were made in the 1990s, with its most recent divestment made in August 1999 when it sold Macromedia Pathware to Lotus Software.

Acquisitions

NumberCompanyCountryAcquired onAcquired for (USD)References
1Emerald City SoftwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States March 19, 1990 [9]
2BluePoint TechnologiesFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States June 20, 1990 [10]
3LaserTools-Language Tech [note 1] Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States June 1, 1992 [11]
4 OCR Systems Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States June 29, 1992 [12]
5Nonlinear TechnologiesFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1992 [13]
6After Hours SoftwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1993 [13]
7CompumationFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1994 [13]
8 Aldus Corporation Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States August 31, 1994$437,676,000 [14]
9LaserToolsFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States September 9, 1994 [15]
10PhotoshopFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1995 [16]
11 Frame Technology Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States October 30, 1995$566,567,000 [17]
12Ares SoftwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 20, 1996 [18]
13SandcastleFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States March 14, 1997$3,500,000 [19]
14HyWay FerrantiFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom September 5, 1997 [20]
15DigiDoxFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States September 16, 1997 [21]
16 GoLive SystemsFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States January 4, 1999 [22]
17FotivaFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States December 5, 2001 [23]
18Accelio [note 2] Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada April 15, 2002$72,000,000 [24]
19Syntrillium SoftwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 2003 [25]
20Yellow Dragon Software-Tech [note 3] Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States November 10, 2003 [26]
21Q-Link Technologies, Inc.Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 3, 2004 [27]
22OKYZFlag of France.svg  France December 7, 2004 [28]
23 Macromedia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States December 3, 2005$3,573,000,000 [29]
24NaviswareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States December 16, 2005 [30]
25Trade and Technologies FranceFlag of France.svg  France April 21, 2006 [31]
26PixmantecFlag of Denmark.svg  Denmark June 26, 2006 [32]
27InterAKTFlag of Romania.svg  Romania September 5, 2006 [33]
28 Serious Magic Inc. Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States October 19, 2006 [34]
29 Scene7 Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 31, 2007 [35]
30Virtual UbiquityFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States October 1, 2007 [36]
31YaWahFlag of Denmark.svg  Denmark September 15, 2008 [37]
32 Business Catalyst Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia August 31, 2009 [38]
33 Omniture Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States September 15, 2009$1,800,000,000 [39]
34 Day Software Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland July 28, 2010$240,000,000 [40]
35DemdexFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States January 18, 2011 [41]
36 EchoSign Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States July 18, 2011 [42]
37Iridas TechnologyFlag of Germany.svg  Germany September 8, 2011 [43]
38NitobiFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada October 3, 2011 [44]
39 Typekit Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States October 3, 2011 [45]
40AuditudeFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States November 1, 2011$120,000,000 [46]
41Efficient Frontier TechnologyFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States November 30, 2011 [47]
42 Behance Inc. Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States December 21, 2012 [48]
43 Neolane Flag of France.svg  France July 23, 2013$600,000,000 [49] [50]
44SatelliteFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States July 31, 2013
45 Aviary Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States September 22, 2014 [51]
46 Fotolia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States January 28, 2015$800,000,000 [52]
47 Mixamo Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States June 1, 2015 [53]
48 Livefyre Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 10, 2016 [54]
49 TubeMogul Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States November 10, 2016$540,000,000 [55]
50SayspringFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States April 16, 2018 [56]
51UruFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States April 29, 2018 [57]
52 Magento Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States May 21, 2018$1,680,000,000 [58]
53 Marketo Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States September 20, 2018$4,750,000,000 [59]
54 Allegorithmic Flag of France.svg  France January 23, 2019 [60]
55 Workfront Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States November 9, 2020$1,500,000,000 [61]
56Frame.ioFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States October 7, 2021$1,275,000,000 [62]
57ContentCalFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom December 8, 2021 [63]
58Abstract NotebooksFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States December 23, 2021 [64]

Indirect acquisitions

Adobe also owns the assets of numerous companies, through less direct means, through the mergers or acquisitions of companies later acquired by Adobe.

Failed acquisitions

Stakes

DateCompanyBusinessCountryValue (USD)References
September 21, 1992VerityComputer consultingFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [67]
March 1, 1994CrosswiseApplications softwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [68]
April 19, 1995 Siebel Systems Application services providerFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [69]
August 8, 1995Fractal DesignGraphics softwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States $2,000,000 [70]
March 23, 2007SkysoftOnline digital music servicesFlag of the Republic of China.svg  Republic of China $1,000,000 [71]

Divestitures

DateAcquirerTarget companyTarget businessAcquirer countryValue (USD)References
November 1, 1991Paracomp MacroMind SoftwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [72]
March 28, 1996Luminous [note 4] Graphics softwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [73]
February 5, 1997INSOMasterSoftPublishing softwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States $3,000,000 [74]
March 24, 1999Creative Internet SolutionsChangeMediaInternet service providerFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [75]
May 20, 1999 Calian Technologies Ltd. Why InteractiveMulti-media companyFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada $4,360,000 [76]
August 30, 1999 Lotus Development Macromedia PathwareInternet softwareFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States [77]

Notes

  1. Acquired from LaserTools
  2. Acquired from Adobe Systems Canada
  3. Acquired from Yellow Dragon Software
  4. Adobe retained a 19.9% stake in Luminous

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Inc.</span> American multinational software company

Adobe Inc., formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to video/audio editing, mobile app development, print layout and animation software. It has historically specialized in software for the creation and publication of a wide range of content, including graphics, photography, illustration, animation, multimedia/video, motion pictures, and print. Its flagship products include Adobe Photoshop image editing software; Adobe Illustrator vector-based illustration software; Adobe Acrobat Reader and the Portable Document Format (PDF); and a host of tools primarily for audio-visual content creation, editing and publishing. Adobe offered a bundled solution of its products named Adobe Creative Suite, which evolved into a subscription software as a service (SaaS) offering named Adobe Creative Cloud. The company also expanded into digital marketing software and in 2021 was considered one of the top global leaders in Customer Experience Management (CXM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hat</span> Computing services company

Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe RoboHelp</span>

Adobe RoboHelp is a help authoring tool (HAT) developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows. RoboHelp was created by Gen Kiyooka, and Blue Sky Software released version 1.0 in January 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldus Corporation</span> Desktop publishing software company

Aldus Corporation was an American software company best known for its pioneering desktop publishing software. PageMaker, the company's most well-known product, ushered in the modern era of desktop computers such as the Macintosh seeing widespread use in the publishing industry. Paul Brainerd, the company's co-founder, coined the term desktop publishing to describe this paradigm. The company also originated the Tag Image File Format (TIFF) file format, widely used in the digital graphics profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macromedia</span> American software company

Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe Systems on December 3, 2005.

FlashPaper was a software application developed by Blue Pacific Software before its acquisition by Macromedia, which was later acquired by Adobe Systems. Its functional design mimics Adobe Acrobat Distiller to behave as a virtual printer. Documents printed to FlashPaper can be printed as Adobe Flash or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

PressWise was digital imposition software to quickly and easily impose most any variety of flat and folding layouts. It was acquired by the Aldus Prepress Group affectionately known in the print and publishing industry as the Aldus WiseGuys in August 1991 from Emulation Technologies Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio. It was further developed by the Aldus Press Group and launched as the first of many Aldus prepress products in 1993. It was subsequently owned by Adobe Systems, then Luminous Corporation (Seattle), then Imation, and finally ScenicSoft. PressWise was discontinued by ScenicSoft in 1999 ultimately.

Bruce R. Chizen is an American technology executive. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Adobe Systems from 2000 to 2007.

Allaire Corporation was a computer software company founded by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in Minnesota, later headquartered in Cambridge, then Newton, Massachusetts. It commenced operations in May 1995, had its initial public offering on NASDAQ in January 1999, and was acquired by rival Macromedia in early 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shantanu Narayen</span> Indian-American business executive and CEO of Adobe

Shantanu Narayen is an Indian-born American business executive who has been the chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adobe Inc. since December 2007. Before this, he was the company's president and chief operating officer since 2005.

Omniture is an online marketing and web analytics business unit in Orem, Utah. It was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2009. Until 2011, Omniture operated as a business unit within Adobe as the "Omniture Business Unit", but as of 2012 Adobe began retiring the Omniture name as former Omniture products were integrated into the Adobe Marketing Cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe FreeHand</span> Discontinued graphics software

Adobe FreeHand is a discontinued computer application for creating two-dimensional vector graphics oriented primarily to professional illustration, desktop publishing and content creation for the Web. FreeHand was similar in scope, intended market, and functionality to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Xara Designer Pro. Because of FreeHand's dedicated page layout and text control features, it also compares to Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. Professions using FreeHand include graphic design, illustration, cartography, fashion and textile design, product design, architects, scientific research, and multimedia production.

Adobe Experience Cloud (AEC), formerly Adobe Marketing Cloud (AMC), is a collection of integrated online marketing and web analytics products by Adobe.

Figma is a collaborative web application for interface design, with additional offline features enabled by desktop applications for macOS and Windows. The feature set of Figma focuses on user interface and user experience design, with an emphasis on real-time collaboration, utilising a variety of vector graphics editor and prototyping tools. The Figma mobile app for Android and iOS allows viewing and interacting with Figma prototypes in real-time on mobile and tablet devices.

References

  1. Blitstein, Ryan (2006-10-30). "How Adobe launched a revolution". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  2. LePage, Rick (2007-09-11). "Opinion: Adobe's DNA is part of Apple". Macworld. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  3. Lewis, Peter H. (1994-03-16). "Adobe and Aldus Plan a $500 Million Merger". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  4. Lewis, Jay B. (1998-04-13). "Adobe Makes a Move for the Future Fremont Site". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  5. "Inside Adobe's New Digital Negative Format". Macworld. 2004-09-30. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  6. "Adobe Systems Announces Adobe FrameMaker for Windows 95 and NT". PR Newswire. 1996-06-03.
  7. Cohen, Peter (2008-04-28). "Adobe Discontinues GoLive". PC World. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  8. "Adobe Audition 1.0 sounds like a new program, but this multitrack recorder/editor is the offspring of Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro 2.1". PC Magazine. 2003-11-25.
  9. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Emerald City Software". Thomson Financial. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  10. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires BluePoint Technologies". Thomson Financial. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  11. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires LaserTools-Language Tech from LaserTools Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  12. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires OCR Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  13. 1 2 3 "Adobe Annual Report 1994" (PDF). Adobe. Retrieved 2023-12-06. p. 36.
  14. "Adobe Annual Report 1994" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-12-06. p. 31.
  15. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires LaserTools Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  16. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Photoshop". CNET. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  17. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Frame Technology Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  18. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Ares Software Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  19. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Sandcastle Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  20. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires HyWay Ferranti". Thomson Financial. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  21. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires DigiDox Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  22. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires GoLive Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  23. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Fotiva Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  24. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Accelio Corp from Adobe Systems Canada Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  25. "Cool Edit Pro is now Adobe Audition". Adobe. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  26. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Yellow Dragon Software-Tech from Yellow Dragon Software Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  27. "Adobe Acquires Q-Link Technologies". Adobe. Archived from the original on 2004-05-07. Retrieved 2004-05-04.
  28. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires OKYZ SA". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  29. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Macromedia Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  30. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Navisware". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  31. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Trade and Technologies France". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  32. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Pixmantec ApS". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  33. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires InterAKT". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  34. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Serious Magic Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  35. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires Scene7 Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  36. "Adobe to Acquire Virtual Ubiquity". Archived from the original on 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  37. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires YaWah ApS". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  38. "Adobe Buys Business Catalyst / GoodBarry". TechCrunch. 31 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  39. "Adobe To Acquire Omniture For Approximately $1.8 Billion". TechCrunch. 15 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  40. "Adobe Adds Leading Web Content Management Software to its Portfolio of Solutions to Create, Deliver and Optimize Customer Experiences". Adobe. Archived from the original on 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  41. "Adobe Acquires Demdex – Brings Audience Optimization to $109 Billion Global Online Ad Market". Omniture. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  42. "Adobe Acquires EchoSign – Leading Web-based Signature Solution Joins Document Exchange Services Platform". Adobe. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  43. "Adobe Acquires IRIDAS Technology Company Extends Leadership in Professional Video with the Acquisition of Premium Tools for Digital Color Grading and Enhancement". Adobe. Archived from the original on 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  44. "Nitobi Enters Into Acquisition Agreement with Adobe". Adobe. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  45. "Adobe acquires Typekit". Typekit. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  46. "Adobe acquires video ad platform Auditude for $120M (updated)". November 2011.
  47. "Adobe Acquires Efficient Frontier To Boost Its Digital Marketing Solutions". 30 November 2011.
  48. "Adobe Acquired Portfolio Service Behance For More Than $150 Million In Cash And Stock". 21 December 2012.
  49. "Adobe Completes Acquisition of Neolane".
  50. "Adobe to Buy Neolane for $600 Million to Add Marketing Tools". Bloomberg. June 28, 2013 via www.bloomberg.com.
  51. "Adobe Acquires Photo-Editing Platform Aviary". Techcrunch. 22 September 2014.
  52. "Adobe Completes Acquisition of Fotolia". Adobe Systems.
  53. "Unlocking The Power of 3D for The Creative Community – Adobe Acquires Mixamo". Adobe Systems.[ permanent dead link ]
  54. "Adobe Completes Acquisition of Livefyre | Adobe". 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  55. "Adobe is acquiring ad tech company TubeMogul for $540 million". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
  56. "Adobe Bets on Voice with Sayspring Acquisition". Archived from the original on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  57. "Adobe acquires Uru, an AI startup that embeds ads in videos" . Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  58. Miller, Ron (2018-05-21). "Adobe to acquire Magento for $1.68B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  59. "Adobe gets its company, snaring Marketo for $4.75 billion". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  60. Gagliordi, Natalie (2019-01-23). "Adobe acquires 3D texture firm Allegorithmic". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  61. Miller, Ron (2020-11-09). "Adobe acquires marketing workflow startup Workfront for $1.5B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  62. "Adobe to Acquire Frame.io". businesswire. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  63. "Adobe buys social media marketing startup ContentCal". 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  64. "The next chapter for Abstract Notebooks: Adobe". www.abstract.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  65. Lombardo, Cara (2022-09-15). "Adobe to Buy Collaboration-Software Company Figma for About $20 Billion" . The Wall Street Journal .
  66. Weatherbed, Jess (2023-12-18). "Adobe abandons $20 billion acquisition of Figma". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  67. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires a minority stake in Verity Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  68. "Adobe Systems Inc acquires a minority stake in Crosswise Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  69. "Adobe Ventures acquires a minority stake in Siebel Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  70. "Adobe Ventures acquires a minority stake in Fractal Design Corp". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  71. "Adobe Sys Software Ireland Ltd acquires a minority stake in Skysoft Co Ltd". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  72. "Paracomp Inc acquires Macromind Inc from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  73. "Investor Group acquires Luminous Corp(Adobe Systems) from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  74. "INSO Corp acquires Adobe Systems-MasterSoft Prods from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  75. "Creative Internet Solutions acquires ChangeMedia(Allaire Corp) from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  76. "Calian Technology Ltd acquires Why Interactive Inc from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  77. "Lotus Development Corp(IBM) acquires Macromedia Inc-Pathware Bus from Adobe Systems Inc". Thomson Financial. Retrieved 2008-10-03.