Adobe and Figma have until December 19th to respond with potential remedies. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge
Adobe’s conquest of the creative software industry appears to be facing some difficulties following an in-depth investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally determined that Adobe’s proposed $20 billion bid for the cloud-based product design platform Figma would harm the product design software market and has effectively blocked the deal until competitive concerns are addressed.
The CMA announced its findings on Tuesday, saying that if the deal goes ahead in its current form, it would eliminate competition in the software markets for product design, image editing, and illustration. Figma is considered to be one of Adobe’s biggest competitors in the design software market,…