David Wadhwani, senior vice president of digital media for Adobe, speaks during the launch of Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 in San Francisco, April 23, 2012.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Britain’s top competition watchdog said Tuesday that Adobe‘s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma could harm the U.K.’s digital design sector, findings that could mean a major setback for the merger.
The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal could “eliminate competition,” “reduce innovation” and “remove Figma as a threat to Adobe’s flagship Photoshop and Illustrator products,” according to a release. The findings are provisional, but the regulator said it will investigate potential remedies, “which could include blocking the deal outright.”
Adobe announced plans to buy Figma, which allows users to collaborate on app and website design, for $20 billion in September last year. In addition to regulatory probes in the U.K., the deal has been under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union.
“Our provisional conclusion is therefore that the Merger would remove competition between close competitors and an important competitive constraint on Figma, in a market in which Figma is already the strongest player by far and there are few other competitive constraints,” the CMA wrote in the release.
A representative for Figma told CNBC the company is “disappointed” by the CMA’s findings and that they “strongly disagree” with the idea that Figma competes with Adobe or will do so in the future.
“The facts are Figma operates in a dynamic and highly-competitive market for product design and development, and Figma has not spent a single dollar or hired a single engineer to build creative tools,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to the deal, confident in the facts, and convinced our proposed combination with Adobe is a win for consumers and should be approved.”
Adobe said it is “disappointed” and disagrees with the CMA’s perspective.
“Adobe and Figma will deliver significant value to customers,” Adobe told CNBC in a statement. “We are reviewing the provisional findings and will reengage with the CMA on the facts and merits of the case.”
David Wadhwani, a key Adobe executive behind the Figma deal, expressed frustration in October over the slow pace of regulatory approval. The company has previously said it expects to close the deal this year, and Adobe has agreed to pay Figma $1 billion if either the merger is not completed by March 2024 or it is rejected by regulators.
The CMA requested responses from Adobe and Figma by Dec. 19. The regulator said a final decision will be issued by Feb. 25 next year.
–CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
Watch: CNBC’s interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has raised $10 billion from investors that puts the company’s post-money valuation at $200 billion, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.
The valuation for Musk’s AI company is the latest example of skyrocketing valuations for companies that develop foundational AI models. Earlier this month, Anthropic raised $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation. OpenAI, the largest company in the industry, held a secondary share sale that valued it at $500 billion.
The fundraising comes weeks after Musk raised $10 billion in debt and equity at what was believed to be a roughly $150 billion valuation, according to Faber. Last December, xAI raised $6 billion to fund its artificial intelligence development.
However, xAI’s Grok service is widely believed to lag behind Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT models in terms of capabilities and number of users.
Musk said in May that he wants to buy a million AI chips, Faber said. Much of the proceeds of this round of funding could go to building data centers filled with Nvidia and AMD AI chips called GPUs that are needed to develop next-generation AI, as well as to hire expensive talent. The company is currently building a large cluster of AI computers in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Pattern Group, one of the leading resellers on Amazon, took the plunge into the public markets on Friday, and saw its stock slip in its Nasdaq debut.
Trading under the ticker “PTRN,” the stock opened at $13.50 after the company sold shares at $14 in its IPO, the middle of the expected range. Pattern’s offering raised $300 million, with half the proceeds going to investors, and valued the company at about $2.5 billion.
The Utah-based company was founded by husband and wife duo David Wright and Melanie Alder in 2013 as iServe Products before changing its name to Pattern in 2019. Pattern currently ranks as the No. 2 Amazon seller in the U.S., based on the number of customer reviews, according to research firm Marketplace Pulse.
The company describes itself as an “ecommerce accelerator” that helps more than 200 brands optimize their sales on online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Target and TikTok Shop. It sells tens of thousands of products across categories ranging from health and wellness, consumer electronics, as well as beauty and personal care. Some of its brand partners include Nestle, Panasonic and Skechers.
The tech IPO market has roared back to life in recent months after an extended dry spell. Ticket reseller StubHub debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, though its stock dropped in its first two days of trading. Online lender Klarna and Gemini, the crypto firm founded by Cameron and Tyler Wiklevoss, started trading last week. Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchangeBullish, design software company Figma and stablecoin issuer Circle have also recently hit the market.
In the second quarter, Pattern reported revenue growth of 39% from a year earlier to $598.2 million. The company recorded net income of $16.4 million in the second quarter, compared with $11.3 million a year earlier. Operating income came in at $30.1 million for the period versus $23.1 million in the same period last year.
The company competes with millions of merchants who hawk their wares on Amazon’s sprawling marketplace, where third-party vendors now account for more than half of all goods sold on the site. Pattern said 94% of its 2024 revenue came from consumer product sales on Amazon, with a “substantial majority” in the U.S.
Pattern isn’t the first Amazon seller to pursue an IPO. Pharmapacks, once the top U.S. Amazon seller, eyed going public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, before nixing those plans and filing for bankruptcy a year later.
Pattern is hitting the market at a time of major global trade uncertainty, a factor it acknowledged in its prospectus. President Donald Trump‘s tariff threats against trade partners have, for the past five months, sent shockwaves through markets and shaken businesses globally.
“There is significant uncertainty as to the potential actions of the U.S. government with respect to international trade policy and the impact of tariffs, particularly with respect to trade between the United States and China,” Pattern wrote in the filing.
Pattern said the tariffs and trade tensions between the U.S. and China could negatively impact demand for its products, or harm its ability “to sell brand partner products at prices consumers are willing to pay.”
CEO David Wright told CNBC in an interview on Friday that the company was trying to hold its offering “a few months ago,” but delayed because of the tariffs, which were first announced in April. Klarna and StubHub put their IPOs on hold after the market plummeted on Trump’s initial announcement.
But the company’s top risk, according to its prospectus, is its reliance on Amazon and what can happen if the ecommerce giant makes significant alterations.
Pattern said that should Amazon restrict its ability to sell products, terminate the relationship or see any big changes due to litigation or regulation, it “could adversely affect our continued growth, financial condition and results of operations.”
Wright said the Amazon challenge is unavoidable.
“No matter what you’re doing in this space, you’re going to be playing with them,” Wright said. As for Amazon suspending certain brands and sellers, “so long as you stay within the line, they’ve been a great partner for us,” he said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said price hikes on the newest iPhone models aren’t tied to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans.
“There’s no increase for tariffs in the prices to be totally clear,” Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer from Apple’s Fifth Avenue store location in New York City, as the latest iPhone model launched in stores worldwide.
Earlier this month, Apple increased the price of its iPhone 17 Pro model by $100, while maintaining the prices of its entry-level phones. It also introduced an Air model that replaced the Plus at steeper price point.
Many analysts had widely anticipated price hikes despite Cook’s attempts to dodge tariffs.
To circumvent the levies, Apple has pivoted its supply chain to import iPhones to the U.S. from lower tariff countries, such as India and Vietnam. Apple has historically produced a majority of its products in China.
Cook has also made public appearances with Trump as the company commits at least $600 billion toward bolstering U.S. manufacturing and supporting suppliers.
During the June quarter, Cook revealed that the company took an $800-million hit from costs tied to tariffs.
At the same time, Apple faces questions about its slow AI rollout, as well as rising competition in international markets such as China.
“We have AI everywhere in the phone,” Cook told CNBC on Friday. “We just don’t call it” that.