Adobe to buy Semrush for $1.9 billion, sending marketing platform’s shares up 70%
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen speaks during an interview with CNBC on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 20, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Adobe said Wednesday that it reached a deal to acquire search engine marketing platform Semrush for $1.9 billion to boost its tools for marketers in the age of artificial intelligence.
Semrush shares skyrocketed more than 74%, while Adobe fell about 2%.
The design software firm said it will pay $12 a share for Semrush in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2026.
Semrush, which offers search engine optimization tools to marketers, went public in 2021. Its biggest customers include Amazon and TikTok. Shares closed Tuesday at $6.76.
Adobe said the company offers necessary search engine and marketing tools to help brands engage and grow customers, especially in the AI era.
“Brand visibility is being reshaped by generative AI, and brands that don’t embrace this new opportunity risk losing relevance and revenue,” said president of Adobe’s digital experience business Anil Chakravarthy said in a release.
Adobe, which is widely known for its Photoshop tool, has implemented more AI into its technology stack over the years to capitalize on the burgeoning trend. That includes an artificial intelligence assistant for Reader and Acrobat.
Unlike its larger tech peer, Adobe has had a tough time winning over some investors.
Adobe’s stock has shed more than a quarter of its value this year, while Semrush’s stock is flat.
Software as a service, or SaaS, platforms across the board have sold off this year on fears that the sector may be losing share to artificial intelligence.
Adobe previously made a $20 billion bid to buy design software company Figma. That plan was scrapped in December 2023 as it faced regulatory hurdles.
Figma went public in July as initial public offering market activity picked up.
Semrush year-to-date stock chart.
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder and CEO, has a Q&A session at a press conference during the APEC CEO summit on October 31, 2025 in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Woohae Cho | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang couldn’t save the tech and artificial intelligence trade this week.
The chip giant’s talismanic leader trumpeted “off the charts” chip sales and dismissed talk of an “AI bubble,” and for a while, the tide lifted all boats.
“There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” Huang said during an earnings call this week. “From our vantage point, we see something very different.”
The buzz from the blowout report quickly reversed, sending the AI winners deeply into the red — and few beneficiaries were left unscathed.
Every member of the Magnificent 7, except for Alphabet, was tracking for a losing week, with Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft staring down the biggest losses.
Amazon and Microsoft have led the group’s drop lower, falling about 6% this week. Meanwhile, Alphabet has gained nearly 8%. The search giant is also the only megacap of the group on pace for November gains thanks to a boost from the launch of Gemini 3.
Oracle, which is another major Nvidia customer, slumped about 10%. The chipmaker also supplies major model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Chip stocks have also declined amid the broader tech market turmoil. Advanced Micro Devices and Micron were on pace for 17% losses. Marvell Technology has slumped about 10%. Quantum computing stocks Rigetti, IonQ and D-Wave have dropped at least 10%
CoreWeave, which buys and rents out Nvidia’s chips in data centers, initially soared on the chipmaker’s earnings report, but swiftly reversed course. The company’s stock is looking at an 8% blow this week.
AI fever was cooling in the runup to Nvidia’s earnings report on Wednesday, and investors looked to the print to alleviate fears that the AI bubble was on shaky ground. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, the stock has helped power the market to new all-time highs.
But concerns have mounted in recent weeks as tech stocks hit stretched valuations.
Major investors, including Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio told CNBC Thursday that the market is definitely in a bubble.
Much of the worries have stemmed from a boom in capital expenditures spending to support AI, with few signs of a payoff in view for many of the players.
Investor Michael Burry recently accused some of the biggest cloud and infrastructure providers of understating depreciation expenses and estimating a longer life cycle for their chips, calling it “one of the more common frauds of the modern era.”
Earlier this month, Burry revealed bets against Nvidia and Palantir.
Shares of the software analytics company, which supplies AI tools to the government and businesses, are down 11% this week. The stock has shed nearly a quarter of its value this month.
WATCH: Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio: We are definitely in a bubble, but that doesn’t mean you should sell
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