Britain’s competition watchdog is poised to block another multi-billion pound tech merger after it provisionally ruled that Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Figma posed major harm to UK markets.
In a statement, the CMA said it believed the £15.8bn merger would wipe out competition between the two and stifle innovation in areas such as product design, image editing and illustration.
Responses to its provisional findings are now being called for with a deadline of 19 December ahead of a final decision by February.
Margot Daly, chair of the investigation, said: “The digital design sector is worth nearly £60 billion to the UK – representing 2.7% of the national economy – and employs over 850,000 people in highly skilled work.
“Adobe [which owns Photoshop] and Figma are two of the world-leading providers of software for app and web designers and our investigation so far has found that they are close competitors.
“This proposed deal, therefore, has the potential to impact the UK’s digital design industry by reducing choice, innovation and the development of new competitive products.
The CMA sparked a huge row earlier in the year when it blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard, causing the US software giant to accuse Britain of being closed for business.
A compromise recently saw the CMA approve that deal.
In that case, lawyers said this time CMA is following the EU’s lead, which issued a statement of objections last week citing similar points to those raised by the UK watchdog.