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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adobe Inc. is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California. In 1982, John Warnock and Charles Geschke left Xerox PARC and established Adobe to develop and sell the PostScript page description language.[1] Apple Computer licensed PostScript in 1985 for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution.[2] The company has acquired 25 companies, purchased stakes in five, and divested six, most of which were software companies. Of the companies that Adobe has acquired, 18 were based in the United States. Adobe has not released the financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions.
Adobe's first acquisition was Emerald City Software in March 1990. In August 1994, the company acquired Aldus Corporation, a Seattle-based software company credited with creating the desktop publishing industry with its PageMaker software.[3] The company's products were integrated into Adobe's product line later in the year, and re-branded as Adobe PageMaker and Adobe After Effects;[4] Aldus also owned the TIFF file format, transferring ownership to Adobe.[5] In October 1995, Adobe acquired the desktop publishing software company Frame Technology for US$566 million, and re-branded its FrameMaker software to Adobe FrameMaker.[6] Adobe acquired GoLive Systems in January 1999 and obtained its CyberStudio HTML editor software, releasing it as Adobe GoLive.[7] In May 2003, Adobe acquired Syntrillium Software and its digital audio editor software Cool Edit Pro, and merged it into its product line, re-releasing it as Adobe Audition.[8]
In the 1990s, Adobe purchased a minority stake in four companies, and it purchased a stake in one company in the 2000s. Adobe has also divested six companies, in which parts of the company are sold to another company. All of its divestments were made in the 1990s, with its most recent divestment made in August 1999 when it sold Macromedia Pathware to Lotus Software.
Number | Company | Country | Acquired on | Acquired for (USD) | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Emerald City Software | ![]() |
March 19, 1990 | — | [9] |
2 | BluePoint Technologies | ![]() |
June 20, 1990 | — | [10] |
3 | LaserTools-Language Tech[note 1] | ![]() |
June 1, 1992 | — | [11] |
4 | OCR Systems | ![]() |
June 29, 1992 | — | [12] |
5 | Nonlinear Technologies | ![]() |
1992 | — | [13] |
6 | After Hours Software | ![]() |
1993 | — | [13] |
7 | Compumation | ![]() |
1994 | — | [13] |
8 | Aldus Corporation | ![]() |
August 31, 1994 | $437,676,000 | [14] |
9 | LaserTools | ![]() |
September 9, 1994 | — | [15] |
10 | Photoshop | ![]() |
1995 | — | [16] |
11 | Frame Technology | ![]() |
October 30, 1995 | $566,567,000 | [17] |
12 | Ares Software | ![]() |
May 20, 1996 | — | [18] |
13 | Sandcastle | ![]() |
March 14, 1997 | $3,500,000 | [19] |
14 | HyWay Ferranti | ![]() |
September 5, 1997 | — | [20] |
15 | DigiDox | ![]() |
September 16, 1997 | — | [21] |
16 | GoLive Systems | ![]() |
January 4, 1999 | — | [22] |
17 | Fotiva | ![]() |
December 5, 2001 | — | [23] |
18 | Accelio[note 2] | ![]() |
April 15, 2002 | $72,000,000 | [24] |
19 | Syntrillium Software | ![]() |
May 2003 | — | [25] |
20 | Yellow Dragon Software-Tech[note 3] | ![]() |
November 10, 2003 | — | [26] |
21 | Q-Link Technologies, Inc. | ![]() |
May 3, 2004 | — | [27] |
22 | OKYZ | ![]() |
December 7, 2004 | — | [28] |
23 | Macromedia | ![]() |
December 3, 2005 | $3,573,000,000 | [29] |
24 | Navisware | ![]() |
December 16, 2005 | — | [30] |
25 | Trade and Technologies France | ![]() |
April 21, 2006 | — | [31] |
26 | Pixmantec | ![]() |
June 26, 2006 | — | [32] |
27 | InterAKT | ![]() |
September 5, 2006 | — | [33] |
28 | Serious Magic Inc. | ![]() |
October 19, 2006 | — | [34] |
29 | Scene7 | ![]() |
May 31, 2007 | — | [35] |
30 | Virtual Ubiquity | ![]() |
October 1, 2007 | — | [36] |
31 | YaWah | ![]() |
September 15, 2008 | — | [37] |
32 | Business Catalyst | ![]() |
August 31, 2009 | — | [38] |
33 | Omniture | ![]() |
September 15, 2009 | $1,800,000,000 | [39] |
34 | Day Software | ![]() |
July 28, 2010 | $240,000,000 | [40] |
35 | Demdex | ![]() |
January 18, 2011 | — | [41] |
36 | EchoSign | ![]() |
July 18, 2011 | — | [42] |
37 | Iridas Technology | ![]() |
September 8, 2011 | — | [43] |
38 | Nitobi | ![]() |
October 3, 2011 | — | [44] |
39 | Typekit | ![]() |
October 3, 2011 | — | [45] |
40 | Auditude | ![]() |
November 1, 2011 | $120,000,000 | [46] |
41 | Efficient Frontier Technology | ![]() |
November 30, 2011 | — | [47] |
42 | Behance Inc. | ![]() |
December 21, 2012 | — | [48] |
43 | Neolane | ![]() |
July 23, 2013 | $600,000,000 | [49][50] |
44 | Satellite | ![]() |
July 31, 2013 | — | |
45 | Aviary | ![]() |
September 22, 2014 | — | [51] |
46 | Fotolia | ![]() |
January 28, 2015 | $800,000,000 | [52] |
47 | Mixamo | ![]() |
June 1, 2015 | — | [53] |
48 | Livefyre | ![]() |
May 10, 2016 | — | [54] |
49 | TubeMogul | ![]() |
November 10, 2016 | $540,000,000 | [55] |
50 | Sayspring | ![]() |
April 16, 2018 | — | [56] |
51 | Uru | ![]() |
April 29, 2018 | — | [57] |
52 | Magento | ![]() |
May 21, 2018 | $1,680,000,000 | [58] |
53 | Marketo | ![]() |
September 20, 2018 | $4,750,000,000 | [59] |
54 | Allegorithmic | ![]() |
January 23, 2019 | — | [60] |
55 | Workfront | ![]() |
November 9, 2020 | $1,500,000,000 | [61] |
56 | Frame.io | ![]() |
October 7, 2021 | $1,275,000,000 | [62] |
57 | ContentCal | ![]() |
December 8, 2021 | — | [63] |
58 | Abstract Notebooks | ![]() |
December 23, 2021 | — | [64] |
Adobe also owns the assets of numerous companies, through less direct means, through the mergers or acquisitions of companies later acquired by Adobe.
Date | Company | Business | Country | Value (USD) | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 21, 1992 | Verity | Computer consulting | ![]() |
— | [67] |
March 1, 1994 | Crosswise | Applications software | ![]() |
— | [68] |
April 19, 1995 | Siebel Systems | Application services provider | ![]() |
— | [69] |
August 8, 1995 | Fractal Design | Graphics software | ![]() |
$2,000,000 | [70] |
March 23, 2007 | Skysoft | Online digital music services | ![]() |
$1,000,000 | [71] |
Date | Acquirer | Target company | Target business | Acquirer country | Value (USD) | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 1, 1991 | Paracomp | MacroMind | Software | ![]() |
— | [72] |
March 28, 1996 | — | Luminous[note 4] | Graphics software | ![]() |
— | [73] |
February 5, 1997 | INSO | MasterSoft | Publishing software | ![]() |
$3,000,000 | [74] |
March 24, 1999 | Creative Internet Solutions | ChangeMedia | Internet service provider | ![]() |
— | [75] |
May 20, 1999 | Calian Technologies Ltd. | Why Interactive | Multi-media company | ![]() |
$4,360,000 | [76] |
August 30, 1999 | Lotus Development | Macromedia Pathware | Internet software | ![]() |
— | [77] |
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