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Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

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Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#791

Post by [deleted] »

tsunamifury wrote: post #448
reustle wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

How is this an issue? You can easily wire up to 999 million with just a mobile device any work day. If you think im joking no I’ve designed it for major banks.

[deleted]

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#792

Post by jamiek88 »

matthewowen wrote: post #772
KptMarchewa wrote: post #719

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have meaningful non-public motive: probable millions to earn if this deal for through.

This deal already has fallen through. What I type here has no possible impact. So idk what the motive here really is. I have a bunch of different feelings about it of course, but I think what I have said here has been factual and verifiable against public information. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about hacker news is that it isn’t purely a peanut gallery and people involved in the companies and technologies…

The DOJ immediately (less than a month) signaled they were against this and would sue, you disputing this = disingenuous.

You then left seven or eight comments defending that error.

It probably wouldn't have come off as so shady if you had mentioned your employer in the first place.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#794

Post by jamiek88 »

matthewowen wrote: post #781
jamiek88 wrote: post #627

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You’ve posted this about me twice. I haven’t shown any ire and I think it’s counter to the spirit of hacker news to suggest bad faith in my posts based on my proximity to the topic.

[flagged]

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#796

Post by low_common »

tsycho wrote: post #549

[Pure speculation; I don't work in the UI space at all, and at neither of these companies] I wonder if Adobe is secretly happy about this. They were acquiring Figma at the peak of the market (for growth stock/startup valuations) because of the existential risks that Figma was threatening, due to their collaborative development UX. But since then: * Startup valuations have fallen. Ignoring regulatory concerns, a new a…

You don't work in the space, you don't work for either company, you don't know what you're talking about. How is this the top comment here?

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#797

Post by __loam »

gunapologist99 wrote: post #645
Ericson2314 wrote: post #495

Renewed 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".

How is this an experiment? Don't we remember Standard Oil, AT&T, DOJ vs MS, etc?

Yeah it's more like the regulators are trying to do their jobs again after decades of the failed hands off approach.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#798

Post by chiefalchemist »

ceejayoz wrote: post #161
chiefalchemist wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And *this* is The Key difference between an entrepreneur and a mom & pop. That said, even a mom & pop should be mindful of exit. What happens when the owner(s) wants to retire? Or has a serious health issue? Or has a family member with a health issue? Etc.? You don't have to be a unicorn to build something that someone else wants to acquire. Editorial: And this is why I dislike words like solopreneur, mompreneur, and…

Mom-and-pop businesses fit the definition of entrepreneur just fine. I'm not willing to let Silicon Valley VCs redefine the term. > What happens when the owner(s) wants to retire? Maybe they just close down the shop. > Or has a serious health issue? And purchase disability insurance.

The point is, regardless of circumstances, if no one wants to acquire the business then the business by definition has not created value (in the eyes of the market).

Being a mom & pop is not the same as being an entrepreneur. They are two separate mindsets. One use exit as a North Star the other just retires and closes up shop.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#799

Post by theultdev »

gkoberger wrote: post #784
vlovich123 wrote: post #775

I think this is great. Figma gets a free undiluted infusion of 1B cash. I’m surprised break-up fees aren’t negotiated as an investment instead of a pure cash transfer. Sure it may have impacted company focus, it didn’t impact their revenue that much (1.5x growth vs 2x growth in previous years although that could have also been caused by an adverse economic climate with sales slowing across many companies and industri…

It could be negotiated as an investment, but that only benefits Adobe. Figma wouldn't want it (would you want your biggest competitor to be an investor? they'd have information and leverage you wouldn't want them to have), and it defeats the purpose of a break-up fee (Figma negotiated for it because they didn't want to spend a year of their lives focusing on something that would benefit their competitor if it's all f…

And in reality, Adobe actually lost progress on XD and Figma has come out with an incredible amount of features this year.

Now Figma has an extra billion for development and Adobe has to start back up the thing they couldn't catch Figma with in the first place.

It was pretty much a win/win for Figma regardless of outcome. Though this outcome is a win for Figma and it's users.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#800

Post by kelnos »

endtime wrote: post #578
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is my favorite comment of the year. We've all become so inured to the idea, especially in startup land, that the purpose of building a business is just the exit (and hopefully we can get out soon enough with someone else "holding the bag"). As you point out, if Figma can build a growing, profitable business, there is no reason they can't IPO at some point. But still, this shows how even the purpose of an…

> that the purpose of building a business is just the exit The majority of those affected negatively by this are not the founders, but the employees. Many of them may have turned down FAANG positions that come with predictable liquid RSUs. Some may have kids (in fact, I know someone at Figma who had a kid in the past year). Liquidity's not necessarily about opportunistically passing on risk...sometimes it's just abou…

And that's the risk/bargain those employees accepted when they took the job at Figma rather than some public company with predictable equity comp.

Look, it sucks, I get that. I was an employee at a successful startup that did end up going public and made me a bunch of money. But I also worked at three other startups that didn't go anywhere and my options/stock ended up being worthless. I also worked at a "boring" public company with equity comp that amounted to a pretty small (but helpful!) quarterly bonus.

I accepted each of those jobs knowing what I was getting into, and knowing that I probably wouldn't see any kind of big payday (the one where I did was life-changing, but if that hadn't happened, I'd still be fine, financially). That's the nature of the beast. It's disappointing when it doesn't work out, but don't play the "some of them have kids" card: people need to plan their finances based on normal, expected outcomes, not on the moonshot.

And regardless, Figma still seems like a great company, with great products. Employees will still likely do really well, whether through a different acquisition or by going public. They'll just have to wait longer.

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