Damn. With penpot destined to take Figma's place I thought things were going swimmingly. I'd rather they put that effort into FAANGs.
DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
21–30 of 89 posts
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#22In case you ever find yourself with as much leverage as Figma seemingly had… always negotiate a break up fee to compensate for exactly this. T-Mobile famously got a $4B breakup fee after DOJ blocked ATT from acquiring them. That $4B was used to buy more spectrum and overhaul the brand, leading to huge growth to the point that T-Mobile is now a big 3 player (it used to be big 2 only). If Figma wrangles $2-3B cash out…
T-Mobile US ($177B) even has a bigger market cap than Verizon ($162B) and ATT ($138B). ATT’s management has been garbage for the last 15 years.
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#23I have read more than once Adobe might secretly be ok with this. Price agreed to before valuations fully cratered. I am sure Musk wished the DOJ could have helped him out as well.
They might be hoping to sue competitors like penpot for being similar to Figma, since Figma's IP would become Adobe's. Or maybe patent troll with some WASM patents, if Figma got them (they sure pioneered with WASM). I don't think suing competitors for having similar designs to Figma will work because penpot could change their design a bit, but it will slow it down.
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#24In case you ever find yourself with as much leverage as Figma seemingly had… always negotiate a break up fee to compensate for exactly this. T-Mobile famously got a $4B breakup fee after DOJ blocked ATT from acquiring them. That $4B was used to buy more spectrum and overhaul the brand, leading to huge growth to the point that T-Mobile is now a big 3 player (it used to be big 2 only). If Figma wrangles $2-3B cash out…
T-Mobile US ($177B) even has a bigger market cap than Verizon ($162B) and ATT ($138B). ATT’s management has been garbage for the last 15 years.
Post-merger/acquisition of Sprint, yes (initiated in 2018 and finally allowed by regulators in 2020).
Interesting detail about the prior 2014 Softbank/Sprint bid to acquire T-Mobile:
> "It was reported that... Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T-Mobile."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merger_of_Sprint_Corporation_a...
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#25In case you ever find yourself with as much leverage as Figma seemingly had… always negotiate a break up fee to compensate for exactly this. T-Mobile famously got a $4B breakup fee after DOJ blocked ATT from acquiring them. That $4B was used to buy more spectrum and overhaul the brand, leading to huge growth to the point that T-Mobile is now a big 3 player (it used to be big 2 only). If Figma wrangles $2-3B cash out…
> If Figma wrangles $2-3B cash out of this, they could probably take down the entire adobe ecosystem
Do you think that just $2-3B would be enough to push for developing alternatives to at least Photoshop and Illustrator and Lightroom and After Effects and successfully going after their markets? During what timeframe? Doesn’t feel like it tbh.
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#26https://archive.ph/QuoBQ
isn't the way this works as follows?
- bigtechco buys smalltechco
- merger happens for a few months, drama, layoffs, etc.
- doj sues
- judge/supremes block
i don't understand why things work like this -- seems strange.
i did read how the supremes decided a long time ago that mergers/acquisitions were always good and right as long as prices went down or stayed low-ish temporarily -- that was the fiction they created, anyways.
and what's the pre-suit meeting about.
DOJ: hey, stop this.
ADO: no.
DOJ: ok, then we filing suit.
ADO: ok.
DOJ: that's it?
ADO: yes.
DOJ: u sure? we really gonna do it..!!???
ADO: yeah, we know, thanks.Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
T-Mobile US ($177B) even has a bigger market cap than Verizon ($162B) and ATT ($138B). ATT’s management has been garbage for the last 15 years.
Post-merger/acquisition of Sprint, yes (initiated in 2018 and finally allowed by regulators in 2020). Interesting detail about the prior 2014 Softbank/Sprint bid to acquire T-Mobile: > "It was reported that... Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T-Mobile." https://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
I don't understand that. Why would a large termination fee be an incentive for regulators to block the deal?
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#28Adobe pays a high valuation in an inflated market for Figma, to continue showing growth that has mostly stalled. Also helps them cross-sell their other products once they get into smaller companies where Figma has a strong foothold. Market Tanks, valuations tank (to reasonable levels or perhaps still slightly inflated levels but not as crazy as before) Generative AI brings a new threat (and new potential acquisition…
Ericsson tried that strategy with Vonage. Failed and paid $6B for a $500M business at best.
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Post-merger/acquisition of Sprint, yes (initiated in 2018 and finally allowed by regulators in 2020). Interesting detail about the prior 2014 Softbank/Sprint bid to acquire T-Mobile: > "It was reported that... Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T-Mobile." https://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
I don't understand that. Why would a large termination fee be an incentive for regulators to block the deal?
Total guess on my part but the smaller party is “made whole” which is less politically problematic than if a large company put in a bid, regulators block it, and the insufficient fee harming the company is blamed on the regulatory activity instead of the insufficiency of the fee.
Unless you’re asking why a small fee would hurt a small company. In that case my understanding is that acquisition talks really stall the business and defocus the company for a non trivial amount of time, not to mention that you’ve given a rival deep insights into your business that they can then use to go after you.
Re: DOJ Preps Antitrust Suit to Block Adobe’s $20B Figma Deal
#30I would not be surprised if Adobe intentionally added monopolistic terms to their deal with Figma or acted that the deal was monopolistic in front of antitrust officials in the hope that they might block the deal, considering that they are paying $20B for something that, in today's market, is worth way less than that. If I am not mistaken, the fact that DOJ is preparing a suit means that the deal will not go through…
Or even more sinister - they planned all of the above before doing the deal in an attempt to weaken Figma. Valuations were already way down when the deal was announced; this is one thing that stood out so much about the deal when it was announced.