Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger • Hacker News Board

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#31

Post by tebbers » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:29 PM UTC

scarface_74 wrote: post #17

hallway_monitor wrote: post #7

It looks like regulators are actually doing their job. I would love to see more of this, along with breaking up companies that have gotten too big for their britches.

The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. Of the literally hundreds of companies that YC has invested in, only 5 have gone public. The VC market will dry up even more if they see their chances of an exit diminishing because of an overzealous government.

No it isn’t just about selling out. It’s to unseat incumbents, deliver better products, make a difference. What do you think Google would have turned out like if Yahoo had bought them for $1m in 1996?

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#32

Post by madeofpalk » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

dkyc wrote: post #13

madeofpalk wrote: post #6

Excellent news. I think there should be more products, more companies, and more competition. Adobe just buying up it's competition will only ever directly hurt consumers. See also, "Adobe says the FTC is looking into its subscription cancellation practices." https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003532/adobe-says-the-...

Except outlawing acquisitions by larger tech companies will absolutely reduce funding and incentives to start companies, and result in less products, less companies, and less competition.

I think this is net-negative for consumers, in a pretty significant way. If the most incentivised lifecycle is to seek VC investment to make a non-susitainable product in the hope of being acquired and swallowed into The Borg and shut down, we still end up with less good products.

- Product life-cycles become short, consumers are weary of anything new. How many times have you seen product launches here on HN where the top comments are worrying about sustainability? That either there will be a rug-pull for consumers in the future, or they just plan to be acquired and shut down.

- Larger companies continue to have no incentive to actually improve their product and compete with others if they just purchase everything in the market.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#33

Post by gumby » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

scarface_74 wrote: post #17

hallway_monitor wrote: post #7

It looks like regulators are actually doing their job. I would love to see more of this, along with breaking up companies that have gotten too big for their britches.

The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. Of the literally hundreds of companies that YC has invested in, only 5 have gone public. The VC market will dry up even more if they see their chances of an exit diminishing because of an overzealous government.

An underzealous government (in regards to antitrust) is as bad as the number of potential acquirers is smaller; in such a monopsony environment purchase prices will be smaller too.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#34

Post by thrillgore » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

zlwaterfield wrote: post #8

This is sad for the overall M&A market. Companies are going to be scared to enter into these agreements because it’s just a waste of time and money when it inevitably ends up like this.

And good for users because it means Adobe can't nickel and dime creatives by buying out competitors. Tell me you're an MBA without saying it.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#35

Post by sokoloff » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #15

zlwaterfield wrote: post #8

This is sad for the overall M&A market. Companies are going to be scared to enter into these agreements because it’s just a waste of time and money when it inevitably ends up like this.

In the same way that animal cruelty laws is bad for the cock-fighting market. Is the "M&A market" a valuable market worth having?

Do companies like YouTube and Instagram get started and funded less frequently if the climate evolves to “it’s impossible to have large mergers approved”?

It’s a bit like asking in 2009 if the secondary mortgage market is a valuable market worth having. It provides significant good (IMO) to support real estate transactions.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#36

Post by ssgodderidge » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

nolongerthere wrote: post #12

zlwaterfield wrote: post #8

This is sad for the overall M&A market. Companies are going to be scared to enter into these agreements because it’s just a waste of time and money when it inevitably ends up like this.

Which I think is overall good for the consumer, many of the companies are only merging to lessen competition, not provide any extra value to us.

While I agree that this deal was ultimately bad for consumers, weaker M&A markets, in the long run, may hurt consumers equally as bad. A lot of “copycat” companies get created when they see a particular company doing well. While sheer profitability is the major factor in this, M&A, and the likelihood of a liquidity event play a large role here too.

Hopefully future us won’t look back at this deal as the beginning of a weak M&A market

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#37

Post by kozikow » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

scarface_74 wrote: post #17

hallway_monitor wrote: post #7

It looks like regulators are actually doing their job. I would love to see more of this, along with breaking up companies that have gotten too big for their britches.

The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. Of the literally hundreds of companies that YC has invested in, only 5 have gone public. The VC market will dry up even more if they see their chances of an exit diminishing because of an overzealous government.

There's also always a private equity market that is often a middle ground between IPO and acquisition.

And in my feeling, I've seen PE getting more active in tech last year (maybe just because valuations went down).

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#38

Post by piva00 » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

scarface_74 wrote: post #17

hallway_monitor wrote: post #7

It looks like regulators are actually doing their job. I would love to see more of this, along with breaking up companies that have gotten too big for their britches.

The entire purpose of starting a company is to get acquired. Of the literally hundreds of companies that YC has invested in, only 5 have gone public. The VC market will dry up even more if they see their chances of an exit diminishing because of an overzealous government.

Corporate consolidation is not a good end for capitalism. If you believe in the capitalist system you'd prefer that less acquisitions happen given that we've empirical data where a lot of these acquisitions are made to stamp out competition.

If the business model is to be acquired that will require the business model to change, I'd prefer that than a bunch of companies only working to be acquired, fucking customers in the process (and all of the externalities deriving from that, like wasted man-hours to move away from products that will be killed).

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#39

Post by chrjxnandns » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

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Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#40

Post by stephen_g » Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 1:30 PM UTC

supafastcoder wrote: post #2

Honestly, as a Figma user and fan, this is great news. For Figma employees probably not so much.

Yeah, I do feel a little bad for the employees with equity but honestly I'm really glad Adobe isn't allowed to buy it. I hope they find a much better company to sell to if that's what they want to do.