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Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, speaks at the startup’s Config conference in San Francisco on May 10, 2022.

Figma

As Figma was in talks about an acquisition with Adobe last year, the design software startup’s CEO, Dylan Field, approached another public company to gauge potential interest, according to a regulatory filing.

That company was Microsoft, CNBC confirmed with a person familiar with the matter. Those talks weren’t serious and an offer never materialized, said the person, who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.

Adobe ultimately agreed to buy Figma in September for $20 billion, the software company’s biggest purchase ever. In a year that saw tech stocks crater and the IPO market freeze, Adobe paid roughly 50 times annual recurring revenue for Figma, which was growing rapidly and encroaching on Adobe’s turf.

The deal still awaits clearance from competition regulators in the U.K. and in the European Union, Wednesday’s filing says.

Microsoft is intimately familiar with Figma’s technology and how quickly it can spread inside large organizations due to its focus on collaboration. The software lets people work together on app and website design from disparate locations. Prior to the Adobe deal, CNBC reported on Figma’s growing popularity inside Microsoft.

However, Microsoft had its hands full with its own mega-deal. In January, the company agreed to buy video game publisher Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion and would soon face calls for an antitrust investigation by U.S. lawmakers. In December, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the acquisition.

Party A

Figma’s deal-related chats with Microsoft date back to May, after acquisition talks had begun with Adobe. Field told representatives of a publicly held technology company, identified only as Party A, that Figma might receive an acquisition offer, “and asked whether Party A would be interested in making an offer to acquire Figma,” the filing said.

Qatalyst Partners, Figma’s financial advisor, met with someone at Party A to gauge the company’s interest. An executive there offered to sign a confidentiality agreement and meet with Figma management, according to the filing.

Figma gave Party A — Microsoft — confidential details as part of the process. Three weeks after Field first reached out to the company, Party A said it was not interested in exploring an acquisition, the filing said.

Still, Field tried to drive up the price. By July, after Adobe had said it would pay $20 billion for Figma, Field proposed a price of $23 billion “and a retention pool valued at approximately $3 billion.” That proposal went to David Wadhwani, president of Adobe’s digital media unit. Wadhwani said Adobe wasn’t willing to increase its offer.

A few days later, Field came back to Wadhwani and asked about a $21.5 billion price. Wadhwani told him that the $20 billion price was firm.

Adobe expects that current Figma shareholders will own about 4% of Adobe’s outstanding stock once the deal closes later this year.

— CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed to this report.

WATCH: Adobe’s revenue up 10% year-over-year on the back of subscription gains

Adobe's revenue up 10% year-over-year on the back of subscription gains

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From the New Testament to Nixon: Takeaways from Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s shareholder letter

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From the New Testament to Nixon: Takeaways from Palantir CEO Alex Karp's shareholder letter

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks on a panel titled Power, Purpose, and the New American Century at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

Palantir CEO Alex Karp offered up another batch of colorful commentary to investors alongside the data analytics company’s first-quarter earnings.

In a letter to shareholders, Karp quoted his own book and some significant historical figures — including St. Augustine and President Richard Nixon — and the New Testament as he touted the company’s artificial intelligence-fueled growth and commitment toward equipping and enhancing U.S. defense interests.

“Our financial performance, that crude yardstick by which the market attempts to measure worth in this world, continues to exceed many of our greatest expectations,” he wrote.

The eccentric technology billionaire has become widely known over the years for his energetic interviews and flowing shareholder letters that often incorporate philosophy, ethics and unconventional language.

His letters often read like an essay or dissertation, broken down into parts.

Tech and military

“We, the heretics, this motley band of characters, were cast out and nearly discarded by Silicon Valley. And yet there are signs that some within the Valley have now turned a corner and begun following our lead. We note only that our commitment to building software for the U.S. military, to those whom we have asked to step into harm’s way, remains steadfast, when such a commitment is fashionable and convenient, and when it is not.”

St. Augustine

Karp quoted philosopher and theologian St. Augustine in his case for defending the U.S.

“All men are to be loved equally,” he wrote. “But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.”

Weltanschauung

In highlighting the company’s culture, Karp likened the environment to a Weltanschauung “nation that is bound together by a short but evolving history and patterns of discourse and shared beliefs” and quoted the New Testament.

“There is no question that both cultures and companies, including the one we have built, must over a long period of time be judged ‘by their fruits.’ Matt. 7:16,”

‘Cultural elites’

Karp cited French author Michel Houellebecq in a section about the “entrenched and resilient” cultural aristocracy of the learned class.

“Nobility had nothing to explain their right to stay in power, apart from their birth. … Contemporary elites claim intellectual and moral superiority.”

President Nixon

Karp concluded his letter with a call to action for rooting out the “cynics and the skeptics,” quoting an excerpt from President Nixon’s 1974 resignation speech.

“Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win, unless you hate them. And then, you destroy yourself.”

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Palantir lifts full-year guidance as CEO Karp cites ‘tectonic shift’ in AI adoption

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Palantir lifts full-year guidance as CEO Karp cites 'tectonic shift' in AI adoption

Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during the AIPCon conference in Palo Alto, California, US, on March 13, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir boosted its revenue guidance Monday as the artificial intelligence software company saw commercial and government revenue boom.

Shares fell about 5% after the bell.

Here’s how the company did compared with LSEG consensus estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 13 cents adjusted vs. 13 cents expected
  • Revenue: $884 million vs. $863 million expected

“We are delivering the operating system for the modern enterprise in the era of AI,” CEO Alex Karp wrote in an earnings release Monday, adding that the company is in the “middle of a tectonic shift in the adoption” of its software.

The defense technology company said that its commercial revenues grew 71% from a year ago to $255 million, while its government segment sales jumped 45% to $373 million. The company is forecasting that U.S. commercial revenues will top $1.178 billion this year.

Karp attributed Palantir’s government sector growth to greater U.S. defense sector adoption of its tools. He said that demand for large language models and the software supporting it has “turned into a stampede.”

Palantir’s revenues grew 39% from $634.3 million in the year-ago period. Net income rose to about $214 million, or 8 cents per share, from roughly $105.5 million, or 4 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. U.S revenues jumped 55% to $628 million, Palantir said.

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The company, which provides AI software and technology solutions for governments and corporations, also hiked its full-year revenue outlook to between $3.89 billion and $3.90 billion. During its last earnings report, Palantir projected that full-year revenues would range between $3.74 billion and $3.76 billion. The company expects revenues to range between $934 million and $938 million in the current quarter.

“We believe our results are indicative of a revolution sweeping across our business and industry,” Karp wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Palantir shares have defied 2025’s broad downtrend in technology stocks. The stock is up 64% this year, benefitting from its key defense contracts and President Donald Trump’s effort to cut federal spending with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. Palantir is also the best performer in the S&P 500.

The company also boosted its adjusted free cash flow outlook for the year to between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion. Adjusted income for operations is expected to range between $1.711 billion and $1.723 billion.

Palantir said it closed 139 deals totaling at least $1 million during the period, 51 of which topped at least $5 million. Palantir said 31 deals exceeded $10 million.

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Waymo plans to double robotaxi production at Arizona plant by end of 2026

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Waymo plans to double robotaxi production at Arizona plant by end of 2026

A Waymo self-driving vehicle seen in Phoenix, Arizona, on Feb. 27, 2025.

Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Alphabet-owned Waymo and the auto manufacturing giant Magna International plan to double robotaxi production at their new plant in Mesa, Arizona, by the end of 2026, the companies announced Monday.

The “Waymo Driver Integration Plant,” a 239,000 square foot facility outside of Phoenix, will assemble more than 2,000 Jaguar I-PACE robotaxis, the Alphabet company said in a statement. Waymo will add those self-driving vehicles to its existing fleet that already includes around 1,500 robotaxis.

The plant will be “capable of building tens of thousands of fully autonomous Waymo vehicles per year,” when it is fully built out, Waymo said. The company also said it plans to build its more advanced Geely Zeekr RT robotaxis that feature its “6th-generation Waymo Driver” technology later this year at the plant.

Waymo and Magna opened the Mesa plant in October, Forbes reported Monday.

The Alphabet-owned company started its commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix in 2020 and now calls the area its domestic manufacturing home.

Already, Waymo is conducting 250,000 paid, driverless rides per week across its service areas in Austin, the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Phoenix, and the company is planning to begin serving the Atlanta; Miami; and Washington, D.C., markets in 2026.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai last month said Waymo has not strictly defined its long-term business model yet, and there is “future optionality around personal ownership” of vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology. A week later, Waymo and Toyota announced a preliminary partnership to potentially bring the self-driving tech to personally owned vehicles.

A would-be Waymo competitor, Tesla has said it plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin in June using the company’s Model Y SUVs and its Unsupervised Full Self-Driving technology.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has criticized Waymo’s approach to driverless tech, saying the cars by his competitor cost “way more money” than his company’s.

Waymo systems employ more sophisticated and expensive sensors than Tesla vehicles do. Waymo vehicles rely on radar and lidar sensors alongside cameras and sonar to get around. Tesla’s systems mostly rely on cameras.

However, Waymo has beat Tesla to the market with its robotaxis, and now stands to more than double its U.S. fleet by the end of 2026. Tesla does not yet offer vehicles that are safe to use without a human at the wheel ready to steer or brake at any time.

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Waymo hits more than 250k paid weekly rides

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