Adobe's $20 billion Figma merger reportedly facing DOJ scrutiny

Adobe Inc.'s plans to purchase fellow creative-software company Figma have drawn the attention of regulators at the Department of Justice, according to reports from late Wednesday. Politico reported that the Justice Department was planning to open an in-depth investigation of the $20 billion deal, citing four unnamed sources. The report noted that regulators have reached out to "customers and competitors" of both companies. Adobe didn't immediately respond to a MarketWatch request for comment. "Given the current political climate around antitrust, it's not surprising to see an acquisition of this magnitude receive regulatory attention," RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew Swanson wrote Wednesday evening. "That said, we continue to view the acquisition as more offensive, focused on addressing new use cases within web and mobile app design as well as a different user base with two-thirds of Figma users being developers and not designers." He added that "additional regulatory scrutiny would likely at the very least delay the close date" but said that most of the investors he's talked to "have anticipated this being an elongated process."

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