Adobe Tried to Buy Its Biggest Rival for $20 Billion. It Paid $1 Billion to Walk Away.

In September 2022, Adobe offered $20 billion for Figma, a design tool that lived in a web browser and was eating Adobe's lunch. Wall Street wiped more than $30 billion off Adobe in a single day. Fifteen months later, regulators in Britain and Europe pushed back, Adobe walked away, and paid Figma $1 billion in cash for the privilege of buying nothing. This is the full story: two Brown University students who built a browser inside the browser, the subscription model Figma attacked, the secret Adobe project called Project Spice that was cancelled six days before the deal was announced, the "reverse killer acquisition" warning, the $1 billion break-up fee, Figma's 250% IPO pop, and what happened to both companies after. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:46 The Kid Who Put Photoshop in a Browser 2:30 Why Adobe Panicked 4:47 Twenty Billion Dollars 7:00 The Regulators 8:01 Project Spice 9:56 One Billion Dollars to Walk Away 11:07 What Figma Did With the Money 12:52 Who Actually Won? All figures are from company filings, regulator documents and press reports listed below. Share prices and market values change daily; numbers are as reported at the time. Sources Adobe — press release "Adobe to Acquire Figma" (Sep 15, 2022) Adobe — SEC filing, Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, Figma acquisition announcement (Sep 15, 2022) Adobe — SEC filing, Form 8-K, termination of Figma merger agreement (Dec 18, 2023) Adobe and Figma — joint press release "Adobe and Figma Mutually Agree to Terminate Merger Agreement" (Dec 18, 2023) Adobe and Figma — SEC filing, Mutual Termination Agreement, Exhibit 10.1 (Dec 17, 2023) Adobe — SEC filing, Form 10-K for fiscal 2024 (Jan 2025) Figma — SEC filing, Form S-1 Registration Statement (Jul 1, 2025) Figma — SEC filing, Form 424B4 final prospectus (Jul 2025) Figma — press release "Figma Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering" (Jul 30, 2025) Figma — press release "Figma Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Results" (Feb 18, 2026) Figma — press release "Figma Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results" (Aug 5, 2026) Figma — blog "Figma's Series E" (Jun 2021) Evan Wallace, Figma — blog "Building a Professional Design Tool on the Web" (Dec 7, 2015) Evan Wallace, Figma — blog "WebAssembly Cut Figma's Load Time by 3x" (Jun 2017) UK Competition and Markets Authority — Adobe / Figma merger inquiry case page (May–Dec 2023) UK Competition and Markets Authority — press release "Adobe / Figma deal could harm UK digital design sector" (Nov 28, 2023) UK Competition and Markets Authority — Summary of Provisional Findings, Adobe / Figma (Nov 28, 2023) European Commission — press release IP/23/4082 "Commission opens in-depth investigation into the proposed acquisition of Figma by Adobe" (Aug 7, 2023) European Commission — press release IP/23/5778, Statement of Objections to Adobe over proposed acquisition of Figma (Nov 17, 2023) US Department of Justice — press release "Adobe Agrees to $150 Million Settlement and Injunction to Resolve Alleged Violations of the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act" (Mar 2026) Adobe — press release "Shantanu Narayen Announces Decision to Transition as Adobe's CEO Once Successor is Named" (Mar 12, 2026) Adobe — press release "Adobe Announces Anil Chakravarthy to Become President and CEO" (Sep 3, 2026) Bloomberg — "Software Design Startup Figma Is Now Worth $10 Billion" (Jun 24, 2021) Bloomberg — "Adobe Receives US Justice Request for More Data on Figma Deal" (Nov 18, 2022) Bloomberg — "Dylan Field, Software's Latest Billionaire", Bloomberg 50 (Dec 14, 2022) Bloomberg — "Software Maker Figma Surges 250% in Debut After $1.2 Billion IPO" (Jul 31, 2025) Bloomberg — "Figma Whipsaws in Second Trading Day After 250% Debut Gain" (Aug 1, 2025) Reuters via Euronews — "Adobe to buy Figma in $20 billion bet on future of work that spooks investors" (Sep 15, 2022) CNBC — "Adobe to acquire design platform Figma for $20 billion" (Sep 15, 2022) CNBC — "Adobe stock slips on report saying DOJ plans suit to block Figma deal" (Feb 23, 2023) CNBC — "After Adobe collapse, Figma deal allows employees to sell shares at $12.5 billion valuation" (May 2024) TechCrunch — "Figma CEO Dylan Field on why he sold to Adobe" (Oct 20, 2022) TechCrunch — "Europe opens in-depth probe of Adobe-Figma acquisition" (Aug 8, 2023) The Register — "Adobe's Figma deal faces DOJ antitrust probe" (Nov 18, 2022) The Register — "US sues Adobe over cancellation fees" (Jun 17, 2024) The Register — "Figma debuts on Wall Street at $33 per share – then more than triples" (Jul 31, 2025) The Register — "Adobe completes Macromedia acquisition" (Dec 5, 2005) TidBITS — "Adobe Swallows Macromedia" (Apr 25, 2005) Creative Techs — "Goodbye FreeHand, but is Illustrator enough?" (Jun 24, 2007) Losing Fight blog — "R.I.P. FreeHand" (May 17, 2007) Forbes Colombia — "Adobe comprará Figma por US$20.000 millones" (Sep 15, 2022) Fortune — Figma IPO and Dylan Field's Thiel Fellowship (Aug 1, 2025) #Adobe #Figma #TechBusiness