I just feel bad for Figma staff today. Y'all make a great product, keep your head up!
Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
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Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#742That is wild. It's a good thing as it means Adobe won't ruin Figma like they did with so many great software products before, but just imagine founders, investors and employees, thinking they had a really good exit.. That must hurt, I hope they can stay motivated. If Adobe can't buy them, what other exit options do they have? Go public?
I agree, this is a big win for Figma customers as they aren't hampered by “even bigger” corporate politics and can be more nimble. I'm not so sure about stockholders at the companies, though. Furthermore, I'm sure they would have liked the boost. I don't care much about their stockholders though, they certainly don't care about me as a user :) .
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#743How much does figma lose from a year's worth of operational focus being distracted by this impending merger?
Maybe not much. They’ve released some big things like dev mode that have been in the making for a while.
They’ve obviously still developed new features and fixed bugs, along with future roadmaps as shown in their showcases.
It’s not like they had the entire company focused on this but likely hired an outside firm to walk them through it.
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#744Renewed anti-trust is an interesting experiment. I don't what the consequences will be, but I am excited to find out! If a nothing else, I want people to think "we should try more policy experiments to become wiser" rather than "oh no, effect uncertain, better stick with status quo".
I think on average, more competition is better for consumers than all these massive oligopolies. I doubt it is for stockholders, though, especially those who want to ditch the stock soon.
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#745Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any reason why you think that the billion dollars will "trickle down" to the people who would have enjoyed the benefits of the merger? Sure, your hypothetical payout sounds good, especially assuming they don't have to give up anything, but it's still hypothetical and I doubt that anything close to what you described is going to happen with that billion dollars.
I don't think it will . But the comment was "just imagine founders, investors and employees, thinking they had a really good exit". If the company cared about "a really good exit" for everyone, it can make that happen with a billion dollars of nearly-free money. If the company doesn't want to make that happen, then why should we expect the merger would have made people any happier? What makes this demotivating?
> What makes this demotivating?
My understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that the people would have sold their stocks, something that is not very liquid and therefore worth less without an IPO or merger. Now, with no merger, they can't get "real" money for their stocks.
> What makes this demotivating?
Well, maybe yesterday they thought they'd soon have a multimillion dollar payout, and all that is gone. I can see how that can be frustrating to some.
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#746Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess the parent's point was that it's better for Figma to be acquired by a company that clearly has a Figma-shaped hole in their lineup, rather than someone with a lot of existing overlap that will likely just strangle it quietly in the night.
with a company infamous for "Embrace, extend, and extinguish", I wouldn't trust MSFT to recognize a hole needs to be filled.
TBF, they kept Skype, GitHub, and Minecraft, running fairly well - one can disagree on the features, but they did get continuous development and support, they weren't just "deprecated" and sunset like, say, Yahoo would do.
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#747Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#748$1 billion termination fee split between 900 employees = happy times.
I’m sure that will happen.
Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#749Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger
#750Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope, from Adobe’s 8K filed today with the SEC: “On December 17, 2023, the Company and Figma mutually agreed to terminate the Merger Agreement and entered into a mutual termination agreement effective as of such date (the “Termination Agreement”). The mutual termination of the Merger Agreement was approved by the Company’s and Figma’s respective Boards of Directors. In accordance with the terms of the Termination Agr…
> the Company will make a cash payment to Figma in the previously agreed amount of one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) (the “Termination Fee”) within three business days following the date thereof Three business days to wire $1b, the week before Christmas. That has to be a fun phone call with the bank.
Here is how it is going to go, Adobe will tell their accountant to wire the money, the accountant will get the details from Figma. Adobe accountant will call their bank or maybe even go in to the branch. And tell them they are sending X to X. It will take a few stamps and confirmation and it will be done in about 5 mins. Some computer somewhere will go - 1 billion Adobe and + 1 billion Figma.
On the bank side nothing really happens unless Figma decides it wants to withdrawal all 1 billion. Then X bank will owe Y bank money, that loan will be balanced at some point. It will probably take a few days so Figma will be told it needs a few days.
Even if Figma decides to pay all their employees a share, that's also just - 50k Figma, + 50k Bob Smith in a computer somewhere.
There is no actual exchange of money until stuff is balanced at some point or you withdrawal. It's all just 1s and 0s in a record.