Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 18, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Adobe Systems today announced the acquisition of Macromedia. The acquisition is taking place as part of a stock transaction valued at approximately 3.4 billion US dollars. According to Adobe, the boards of both companies have already approved the acquisition. The agreement provides that, as part of a tax-free exchange, shareholders will receive 0.69 Adobe common shares for each Macromedia common share at a fixed exchange ratio.
“Customers are demanding integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage and distribute a large variety of highly sophisticated content and applications – from documents and digital photos to audio and video,” says Bruce Chizen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Adobe Systems. “The combination of our software for development, authoring and collaboration with the complementary functionalities of PDF and Flash enables Adobe to make its vision of an industry-leading technology platform a reality.”
Former Macromedia CEO Stephen Elop is to drive operations at Adobe as President of Worldwide Field Operations. Among other things, the merger is intended to open up new markets, particularly in the mobile and enterprise sectors.