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Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

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Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#861

Post by chefandy »

krsdcbl wrote: post #673
RickS wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(ex-Adobe, on a team highly related to an area where Figma out-executed XD, less knowledge about genAI stuff) > Adobe has probably captured back both mental and market share from Figma GenAI/Firefly's success is in a totally different domain to what Figma's doing. Figma's equivalent at Adobe is XD, which has never held a candle to Figma. The existential problem Adobe tried to buy their way out of still exists in the…

As a graphics designer of almost 20 years i have to heavily agree. Firefly is nice for drafting and dabbling with stuff that once would've been served by stock sites, but aside picking a few demo images or making some abstract pattern backgrounds here and there, this has close to zero overlap with the UI/UX into development & design system management process Figma serves. It's almost like saying the Bing bot eats awa…

Curious: what do you find missing in the affinity stuff? I see a bunch of people referring to it generally lacking 'stuff' but I'm curious about the sort of stuff it lacks. Maybe my use case won't be impacted much.

I'm grandfathered in with the introductory CC pricing but there aren't too many threads left in the rope anchoring me to that. I rarely do print design anymore so InDesign isn't the huge sell it used to be, and photoshop is just annoying me more each day. If it weren't for illustrator, I'd probably be gone already, and inkscape just doesn't cut the mustard for that stuff... the type tools alone in illustrator keep me there. Audition suits me way better than audacity but I don't do anything remotely intensive enough with sound to warrant a hundreds-of-dollars a year subscription.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#862

Post by gibbitz »

quitit wrote: post #858
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…

I agree but for a slightly different reason. UX is going to get a shake up from AI. We're already seeing a bit of the new paradigm of on-demand UI/UX with Gemini (and the various me-too demos). Both Figma and Adobe are now vulnerable to disruption in this space. Adobe can use the time to ape Figma while flexing their rather good AI expertise.

I wonder about the UX created by AI when we start delegating browsing to AI. The major search engines already are looking to lean on AI and we complain about ads enough that it's clear we see browsing as a chore. It's only a matter of time before the web is written in a new bytecode that is meant for AI only. Turtles all the way down...

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#863

Post by cj »

vl wrote: post #842
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…

I wonder if Figma will have to pay taxes on 1B they are getting as the fee.

Will probably be an expense on Adobe's books and income on Figma's. Lowering Adobe's tax and potentially raising Figma's.

Not sure about this exact scenario, but the government taxes legal settlements. Not sure why they wouldn't tax this.

Will definitely lower Adobe's tax bill.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#864

Post by jamiequint »

deweywsu wrote: post #544
hipadev23 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CEO also owes it to their employees and investors to let everyone have a massive payday.

I think this is at the core of the rot of American society. The thinking that a CEO "owes" the marketing of their company so as to cash it in or even turn profits is, in my opinion, is a mark of the biggest moral ineptitude of the western world's thinking. Yes, I realize this is the 'norm', but it clashes with deep values of the people who aren't shareholders, but are no doubt vested in the product the company produc…

"it clashes with deep values of the people who aren't shareholders, but are no doubt vested in the product the company produces, mainly the customers. It ignores their needs completely because they don't own stock."

Presumably companies generate value for shareholders by selling things to customers and generating profits, which makes customers the ultimate beneficiaries. What companies are you thinking of that ignores their customers' needs completely and are still quite successful and valuable for shareholders?

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#865

Post by gibbitz »

DoesntMatter22 wrote: post #817
coldtea wrote: post #777

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Things happen quickly and AI will change things quickly. Yes, but oversold hype also dies quickly, not changing much in the end.

That is a very silly way of viewing things. AI has already dramatically change logo creation and all sorts of image generation. The impact on design is already being felt and is going to rapidly increase. The cost savings are immense.

Sadly this is how we look at art thanks to AI. "It's just like a real person thought about it and made it intentionally -- but it's nearly free!". No one paying cares if it's just copied from other works and nearly randomly put together at the expense of those who can barely make a living doing it. Why don't we focus more on automating C-suite jobs? That's where a lot of corporate costs come from. Automating a logo design saves you 20k or likey (much) less. Automating a corporate merger saves you millions of dollars and years of time.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#866

Post by eddiewithzato »

wg0 wrote: post #215

Yeah that's sad because couldn't pull a VMWare onto unsuspecting UX desgin community I suppose. What's wrong with staying a small profitable company that loves what it builds and cares for its customers?

difference between giving the early employees a lamborghini vs a yacht

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#867

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

echelon wrote: post #598
wantsanagent wrote: post #536

Can Figma issue bonuses out of the $1B payout?

That would be a really smart move to keep employees motivated. They're probably extremely upset and anxious about this deal falling through.

Many employees will say thanks and go on updating their resume: surely you don't expect more generosity in the future.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#868

Post by turtle_ »

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…

Having gone through one major acquisition, my experience was that legal put a huge block on any technical integrations and even meetings that might reveal ip until the ink was dried. I'm skeptical they started any kind of collaborative work other than pie-in-the-sky, "wouldn't it be cool if" type meetings with lawyers present.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#869

Post by Drew_ »

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…

> The majority of those affected negatively by this are not the founders, but the employees.

Well yes there are typically many more employees than there are founders. Despite this, founders probably missed out on orders of magnitude more money than all of the employees combined.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#870

Post by thelittleone »

Perz1val wrote: post #285
thelittleone wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend using virtual credit cards for subscriptions. I just cancel the card if the account cancellation process is hostile in anyway.

What's the best way to acquire those?

I use Mercury as I expense most subscriptions for business.
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