Adobe

Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE). Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud. $21.5B FY2024 revenue. Founded 1982. HQ San Jose.

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Updated: Feb 20, 2026 ·

About

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) is the global leader in creative software, digital documents, and customer experience management. Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Experience Cloud generated $21.5 billion in revenue in FY2024.

Founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, Adobe invented PostScript and PDF, then built the dominant creative suite with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. The company's $20 billion attempt to acquire Figma was blocked by regulators in December 2023. Since then, Figma went public at a $56B market cap and Canva hit $4B ARR : both growing significantly faster than Adobe Creative Cloud.

Recent News & Mentions

Mar 1, 2026Product LaunchAdobe Adobe Animate Launch

Financial History

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Leadership Team

Key people at Adobe.

Ayden Ye

Researcher

Richard Li

Data Platform Leader: Adobe Firefly

Sr Director, Product for Creative Cloud

Jeff Veen

Vice President, Products

Peter Secor

Director Engineering, Corporate Strategy

Scott Belsky

Chief Product Officer, Executive Vice President - Creative Cloud

Sriram Bhargav Karnati

Internship

Brandon Leen

Senior Director, Corporate Development

Priyanka Kumar Shenoy

Principal Product Manager

Leadership Team

Key people at Adobe.

Ayden Ye

Researcher

Richard Li

Data Platform Leader: Adobe Firefly

Sr Director, Product for Creative Cloud

Jeff Veen

Vice President, Products

Peter Secor

Director Engineering, Corporate Strategy

Scott Belsky

Chief Product Officer, Executive Vice President - Creative Cloud

Sriram Bhargav Karnati

Internship

Brandon Leen

Senior Director, Corporate Development

Priyanka Kumar Shenoy

Principal Product Manager

Deep Dive

Company Overview

Adobe operates three main business segments:

Digital Media ($16.1B FY2024 revenue)

Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, InDesign, and 20+ creative applications.
Document Cloud: Acrobat, Adobe Sign, PDF services.

Digital Experience ($5.4B FY2024 revenue)

Experience Cloud: Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Commerce (Magento). Competes with Salesforce and SAP.

History

1982: Founded by John Warnock and Charles Geschke (ex-Xerox PARC)
1986: IPO on NASDAQ under ADBE
1987: PostScript revolutionized desktop publishing
1990: Photoshop 1.0
1993: Created the PDF format with Acrobat 1.0
2005: Acquired Macromedia (Flash, Dreamweaver) for $3.4B
2007: Shantanu Narayen became CEO
2009: Acquired Omniture for $1.8B (now Experience Cloud)
2011: Began transition to Creative Cloud subscriptions
2018: Acquired Marketo ($4.75B) and Magento ($1.68B)
2022: Announced $20B acquisition of [Figma](https://startupintros.com/orgs/figma)
2023: Figma deal terminated; Adobe paid $1B fee. Launched Firefly AI
2025: [Figma IPO](https://startupintros.com/news/2025-07-31-figma-ipo) at $56B; [Canva](https://startupintros.com/orgs/canva) hit $4B ARR

The Figma Challenge

In September 2022, Adobe announced a $20 billion acquisition of [Figma](https://startupintros.com/orgs/figma). Regulators in the US, EU, and UK raised antitrust concerns, and the deal was terminated in December 2023. Adobe paid a $1 billion termination fee.

Free from acquisition limbo, Figma [went public in July 2025](https://startupintros.com/news/2025-07-31-figma-ipo) and tripled on day one. By Q4 2025, Figma grew revenue 40% YoY while Adobe Creative Cloud remained in single-digit growth. [Dylan Field](https://startupintros.com/people/dylan-field) summarized: "Software is not going away. There's going to be way more of it."

AI Strategy

Adobe launched Firefly in 2023, trained exclusively on Adobe Stock and licensed content — differentiating from competitors with copyright risk. Firefly powers generative fill in Photoshop, text-to-image, and style transfer. Critics argue Adobe treats AI defensively while [Canva](https://startupintros.com/orgs/canva) (800M AI uses/month) and [Figma](https://startupintros.com/orgs/figma) embed AI as core product.

Financial Profile (FY2024)

Revenue: $21.51B (+10% YoY)
Net Income: $5.9B
Operating Margin: ~36%
Recurring Revenue: 93%+
Market Cap: ~$180B (Feb 2026)
Employees: ~30,000

Competitive Landscape

Creative tools: [Figma](https://startupintros.com/orgs/figma) (+40% growth), [Canva](https://startupintros.com/orgs/canva) ($4B ARR), DaVinci Resolve
Documents: DocuSign, Notion, Google Workspace
Experience: Salesforce, SAP, HubSpot

The core challenge: Adobe has the largest installed base in creative software, but installed base without growth is a slow bleed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Adobe do?

Adobe makes creative software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro), document tools (Acrobat, PDF), and enterprise marketing technology (Experience Cloud).

Is Adobe publicly traded?

Yes. Adobe trades on NASDAQ under ticker ADBE with a market cap of approximately $180B.

What happened with Adobe and Figma?

Adobe's $20B acquisition of Figma was terminated in December 2023 due to antitrust concerns. Adobe paid a $1B termination fee.

What is Adobe Firefly?

Firefly is Adobe's generative AI model launched in 2023, trained on Adobe Stock and licensed content.

How much revenue does Adobe generate?

Adobe generated $21.51B in FY2024 revenue, with over 93% from recurring subscriptions.