BRUSSELS, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Adobe’s $20 billion
bid for cloud-based designer platform Figma may reduce
competition in global markets for interactive product design
tools and also shut out rivals, EU antitrust regulators said on
Monday.
The European Commission said it opened a full-scale
investigation into the deal after a preliminary review triggered
concerns, confirming a Reuters story last month.
Tech deals have recently drawn sharp antitrust regulatory
scrutiny amid fears that some bigger companies may be acquiring
rival start-ups to shut them down.
Figma’s web-based collaborative platform for designs and
brainstorming is popular among tech firms, including Zoom Video
Communications, Airbnb and Coinbase.
The deal would remove an important rival and may allow
Photoshop maker Adobe to restrict competition in the global
markets for the supply of interactive product design tools, the
EU antitrust watchdog said.
It said the acquisition may also prevent Figma’s potential
growth into an effective competitor to Adobe’s asset creation
tools and may also foreclose rival providers of interactive
product design tools by bundling Figma with Adobe’s Creative
Cloud suite.
“With our in-depth investigation we aim to ensure that users
continue to have access to a wide pool of digital creative tools
among which to choose,” European Commissioner for Competition
Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
The EU competition enforcer said it would decide by Dec. 14
whether to clear or block the deal.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
