Adobe boss says CMA should ‘move more quickly’ on Figma takeover decision

A top Adobe executive has slammed the UK’s competition watchdog for taking too long to reach a decision on the company’s proposed takeover of cloud-based designer platform Figma.

David Wadhwani, the president of Adobe’s digital media division, said the process should not take 15 months long and the lengthy wait could harm innovation.

“I think we can all agree that expediting these kinds of decisions is important for innovation and for doing the right thing by consumers and customers to make these decisions faster and move more quickly,” he told The Times.

In the summer, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an in-depth investigation into Adobe’s $20bn (£16bn) bid for Figma, whose software allows teams of designers to collaborate remotely on visual projects.

Last month the regulator provisionally found that the deal could harm the country’s digital design sector and lead to fewer choices for designers of digital apps, websites and other products.

But Wadhwani said the CMA’s assessment was “too broad” and accused it of failing to properly judge the size of the market.

“We have not spent a lot of time talking about the remediation because we are still very focused on the core merits. We don’t believe the merits of the case have been properly articulated and we want to do that,” he added.

Adobe is currently trying to convince the watchdog that its products are sufficiently different from Adobe’s, before proposing remedies to get a green light for the merger.

Having extended the deadline by eight weeks, the CMA will reveal its final decision by the end of February 2024.

The CMA cannot comment on ongoing investigations.