Adobe Systems Company Profile











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Adobe Systems
Company Profile

by Sherry Kercher

Docid: 00014958

Publication Date: 2009

Report Type: VENDOR

Preview

Adobe Systems is a leading computer software company that has built on
its foundation of legacy multimedia and creativity applications with the
addition of software development technologies. Adobe founded its
reputation on technologies such as the widely-used portable document
format, better known as PDF, but also leveraged its 2005 acquisition of
Macromedia to expand its portfolio to include development tools such as
the ColdFusion, Dreamweaver, and Flex technologies. In recent years, the
company has been focusing on providing cloud services and moving away from
packaged software offerings. This report discusses Adobe’s current
activities and its financial situation.

Report Contents:

Fast Facts

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Name: Adobe Systems
Headquarters
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
Phone: (408) 536-6000
Toll-Free: (800) 833-6687 (Customer Service)
Fax: (408) 537-6000
Web: http://www.adobe.com/
Type of Vendor: Web/Print Publishing and Graphics
Software
Founded: 1982
Service Areas: Global
Stock Symbol: ADBE (NASDAQ)



Related Faulkner Reports
Adobe Systems Timeline

Profile

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Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems is a leading provider of digital imaging,
design, and document management software and platforms, delivering
products that enable users to create, manage, and deliver content. 
Adobe’s flagship offering is the portable document format, or PDF, a
technology that has become so widely-used that the PDF and a host of the
format’s subsets, such as PDF/Archive, PDF/X, and PDF/E, have been
ratified by international standards bodies. Another of the more notable
offerings from the company is Adobe Reader X, a free, universal client
software tool that enables users inside and outside the firewall to
interact with electronic documents online or offline. Reader X is
distributed in 32 languages on major desktop and mobile platforms across
the globe. Finally, its Photoshop photo editing software, widely
considered to be the industry standard, is another weapon in Adobe’s
arsenal. 

In 2005, Adobe made a major purchase, paying $3.4 billion USD for
Macromedia, one of the firm’s top competitors. The acquisition added a
host of leading solutions to the company’s portfolio, including the
technology that came to be know as Adobe Flash, which became the top
Internet video format. In 2009, Adobe expanded its online presence when it
announced the purchase of Omniture. The deal, valued at $1.8 billion,
blends Adobe’s content creation tools with Omniture’s Web analytics,
measurement, and optimization technologies, and will assist companies
better integrate Web site design and analysis tasks. Building on its
analytics business, Adobe added Demdex to its acquisitions in 2011. The
acquired company’s technology is expected to be used to add audience
optimization functionality to future releases of the Adobe Online
Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture.

Although the company is based in the US, more than half of the company’s
revenues come from overseas, including the firm’s operations in Europe,
the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia. Adobe’s software solutions run
on Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX platforms, as well
as the most popular mobile operating systems. The company targets its
wares at creative professionals, such as graphic designers, Web designers,
videographers, photographers, and professional publishers. Adobe’s
offerings also target enterprise users, such as knowledge workers, IT
managers, line of business managers, and executives. The company’s
products are used in the development of applications on mobile devices, as
well as PCs, and other enterprise systems. In addition to business users,
Adobe’s applications are available to consumers, for digital imaging,
digital video, and other functions.

History & Milestone Events

  • 1982 – Adobe was founded by Dr. John Warnock and Dr.
    Charles Geschke with the intention of developing and marketing
    commercial applications for Adobe’s then-new PostScript page-description
    language. Named after a small creek located near the founders’ homes,
    Adobe built its publishing software offerings through a combination of
    in-house development and strategic acquisitions.
  • 1987 – Created subsidiary Adobe Systems Europe.
  • 1992 – Acquired OCR Systems and Nonlinear
    Technologies.
  • 1993 – Bought AH Software and Science & Art.
    Also that same year, the company started to license its PostScript
    software to printer manufacturers.
  • 1994 – Brought PageMaker into the fold through its
    purchase of Aldus.
  • 1995 – Completed multiple  acquisitions: Ceneca
    Communications, Frame Technologies, and Ares Software. Declared an
    Initial Public Offering (IPO) and was listed on the NASDAQ under the
    ADBE symbol.
  • 1998 – Rival Quark’s attempt to take over the
    company failed. That same year, the company trimmed its staff by ten
    percent due to weakened sales. It was also forced to eliminate its Adobe
    Enterprise Publishing Services and Image Club Graphics divisions.
  • 1999 – The company’s Web publishing product family
    was extended through its acquisition of GoLive Systems.
  • 2000 – Bruce Chizen assumed the role of CEO.
  • 2004 – Purchased collaborative software company
    OKYZ.
  • 2005 – Acquired rival Macromedia for $3.4 billion
    USD.
  • 2006 – Hired Randy Furr as the company’s CFO.
  • 2007 – Purchased rich media delivery services
    provider Scene7 and Virtual Ubiquity, which developed the online word
    processing tool Buzzword. Named COO Shantanu Narayen as its president
    and chief executive officer, replacing the retiring Adobe CEO Bruce
    Chizen.
  • 2008 – Adobe discontinues GoLive, its HTML/web
    development software, transitioning to its Dreamweaver application. The
    firm also released a set of Web applications dubbed Acrobat.com.
  • 2009 – Purchased Web analytics firm Omniture for
    $1.8 billion USD.
  • 2010 – Released Flash 10.1, a unified flash platform
    designed to bring flash video and multimedia content to both the desktop
    and mobile devices. 
  • 2011 – Acquired Demdex, an audience optimization
    firm, in order to incorporate its technology into the Adobe Online
    Marketing Suite. Also, in September 2011, acquired certain assets of
    IRIDAS, a provider of tools for digital color grading and the
    enhancement of professional film and video content, including
    stereoscopic technology. Announced in November that it would stop
    development of Flash for mobile devices following version 11.1 and will
    concentrate instead on HTML5.
  • 2012 – Acquired Efficient Frontier, a firm offering
    multi-channel and auction-based digital advertising across search,
    display, and social media. Launched Creative Cloud in April, a
    subscription-based offering to download and install Adobe’s Creative
    Suite 6 software line. 
  • 2013 – Acquired Neolane, a provider of cross-channel
    campaign management technology that integrates online and offline
    marketing data from across an enterprise.
  • 2014 – With Google, released Source Han Sans, an
    open source typeface that supports Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Latin,
    Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets.
  • 2015 – Released the Captivate Prime Leaning
    Management System (LMS), as well as the Adobe Stock stock content
    service. It also acquired Mixamo, a 3D technology company, and Fotolia.
  • 2016 – Made Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) available
    to public sector organizations in Europe as a managed service, powered
    by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Signed an agreement to acquire
    privately-held Livefyre, a content curation and audience engagement
    company.
  • 2017 – Teamed with Microsoft to deliver joint
    offerings using the Adobe Experience Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and
    Microsoft Dynamics.
  • 2018 – Agreed to acquire Marketo, a cloud platform
    for B2B marketing engagement, for $4.75 billion USD to add an engagement
    platform to Adobe Experience Cloud.
  • 2019 – Launched Adobe Sign for small business, an
    e-signature service. The company also reported that it would be offering
    AI-powered technology previews in Adobe Experience Cloud. It also
    acquired Allegorithmic.
  • 2020 – Adobe fixed five critical cross-site scripting
    flaws in Experience Manager as part of its regularly scheduled patches.
    In total, the company fixed 18 flaws as part of its September updates.

Strategy

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Adobe centers its strategy around two key areas: Digital Media and
Digital Marketing. With Digital Media, Adobe targets its tools and
offerings to consumers, small businesses and enterprise customers to
create, publish, and promote content from any location. This area has been
the basis for Adobe’s business over the years, and the company expects its
technology to further evolve to provide new devices and solutions to its
customers in the future. In terms of Digital Marketing, Adobe provides the
tools and solutions needed to craft, manage, and execute digital
advertising and marketing. With this aspect, Adobe says it assists
customers by helping them achieve their maximum potential by optimizing
their marketing campaigns. The combination of Digital Media and Digital
Marketing, according to the vendor, is complementary — that is, the
creation of the content and then the measuring and optimizing of it to
ensure a complete business solution. 

Adobe has been focusing on providing cloud services for users, and moving
away from packaged software offerings. Its Creative Cloud suite provides
both desktop and mobile apps to for both businesses and consumers. It is
offered in a number of configurations: students and teachers; schools and
universities; enterprise; government; individuals; photographers; and
small and medium businesses. 

Adobe delivers some of the most well-known and used technology products
in the world, including its PDF and Flash technologies, as well as its
Creative Cloud suite of offerings. Adobe’s technology is compatible with
Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, Linux, UNIX, Android, and iOS, depending
on the application.

Strengths

Because Adobe’s products cater to remote workers, its stock has been
doing well in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It achieved
record quarterly revenue of $3.23 billion in its third quarter of fiscal
year 2020. Its subscription business model has also benefited the company,
allowing it to hook and retain customers. The company is a major player in
the desktop publishing and Web design segments, owing this popularity to
applications such as Photoshop for image editing; Illustrator, and
Dreamweaver for Web page design and illustration; and Acrobat for page
layout. The company is also making a solid run at rival Quark on the
merits of its InDesign publishing software. The 2005 acquisition of
Macromedia, 2009 acquisition of Omniture, 2011 acquisition of Demdex, and
2013 acquisition of Neolane have all allowed the company to further
exploit the Web development and advertising market. Most recently, the
company has been focused on expanding Creative Cloud’s marketplace
services. In January 2015, it acquired Fotolia, which is a marketplace for
stock content. It is integrating this service into Creative Cloud. It also
released the Adobe Stock stock content service. In May 2016, Adobe signed
an agreement to acquire privately-held Livefyre, a content curation and
audience engagement company.

The popularity of Adobe solutions is well known, with ubiquitous use of
some of its leading tools. For example, over 90 percent of creative
professionals have Adobe Photoshop on their desktops. According to the
company, since Adobe Digital Publishing Suite was launched in 2010, over
220 million digital publications have been downloaded to tablets and
phones. Also, Adobe has shipped over 500 new and enhanced features to
Creative Cloud members since January 2013. The company reports that 
more than 5,000 of the world’s top brands rely on Adobe digital marketing
solutions, including 9 of the top 10 online retailers and commercial banks
and 8 of the top 10 media companies and auto manufacturers. Marketing
Cloud supports over 41 trillion transactions, 4.1 trillion rich media
requests, and more than 60 billion emails per year. Additionally, over 8
billion electronic and digital signature transactions were processed
through Adobe Document Cloud in the past year. The broad-ranging use of
its products and technology has helped the company regularly post annual
revenues in the billions of dollars.

Weaknesses

Adobe must move away from the seemingly endless stream of security flaws
and vulnerabilities found in in its Flash and Reader-based products. While
it has made efforts to combat these occurrences with frequent updates, and
initiatives to encourage users to stay up to date, no one will be enticed
to use a technology that needs constant monitoring to avoid becoming a
security threat. Most recently, in September 2020, Adobe fixed five
critical cross-site scripting flaws in Experience Manager as part of its
regularly scheduled patches. In total, the company fixed 18 flaws as part
of its September updates. These includes flaws in Framemaker and InDesign.

Adobe’s purchase of Omniture had been criticized, not only due to the
high premium Adobe paid, but also since Omniture’s Web analytics
technology had rivals in Google and Yahoo!, which offer similar
technologies for free or at lower prices. Adobe is also competing with a
host of vendors in its other areas of operations, including Microsoft,
Quark, and Apple. While Adobe’s products are considered some of the best
and most widely-used, many are also among the priciest. As the world is
still trying to recover from the global recession, Adobe will have
difficulty in convincing new customers to pay the high prices it charges,
as well as convincing current customers to pay for upgrades to existing
products.

Outlook

Adobe’s best bet is to continue to focus on its Creative Cloud (CC).
CC includes Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe
Dreamweaver CC, and Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Mobile apps, creative hardware,
and updates to Creative Cloud services are all offered. The company offers
a variety of apps for iPad, including Adobe Sketch, Adobe Line, and Adobe
Photoshop Mix. Its digital pen is called Adobe Ink, and Adobe Slide offers
a digital ruler. Additionally, CC features offerings for enterprise,
education, and photography customers. CC lets users have access to both
Windows and Macintosh versions of the software. This is a good move for
Adobe, encouraging companies and individuals to use its tools without
having to commit to long term license agreements. Also, CC includes
marketplace capabilities, as well as Comp CC, which is a free iPad app
that allows for the creation of layout concepts for mobile, Web, and print
projects. According to Adobe, Over 90% of the world’s creative
professionals use Photoshop, and 250 billion PDFs were opened in Adobe
products in 2019. Adobe reports that Creative Cloud mobile apps have been
downloaded over 376 million times.

Product Lines

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In early 2012, Adobe reorganized its portfolio into two core segments:
Digital Marketing and Digital Media. However, Adobe continues to market
its Print and Publishing segment, which consists of mostly mature
products. Table 1 below outlines the notable products that make up each
segment’s product categories.

Table 1. Adobe Systems’ Products and Services
Products Description Competitors
Digital Marketing The Digital Marketing Suite
consists of Web analytics marketing campaign management and Web site
optimization products to help companies position their business for
success and gain insight into the performance of their marketing
initiatives. There are a wealth of products within the Digital
Marketing Suite lineup and they include:

  • Insight – Insight is an on-premise software
    tool for quickly analyzing large volumes of evolving data in
    real-time, delivering visualization capabilities, and accepts
    data from any source, including data warehouses and business
    intelligence tools.
  • AudienceManager – Identifies, quantifies, and
    optimizes high-value target audiences, which can then be offered
    to advertisers via an integrated, secure, privacy-friendly
    management system that works across all advertising distribution
    platforms.
  • SiteCatalyst – Measures, analyzes, and
    optimizes data from an array of initiatives and across multiple
    channels, using an intuitive user interface.
  • Discover – Offers tools to provide context
    to identify new marketing segments.
  • Adobe Social – Helps users integrate social
    media into their marketing plans.
  • SearchCenter+ – SearchCenter+ is a hosted
    software tool that delivers a common interface to manage search
    campaigns across multiple search engines, integrate campaign
    metrics with Web analytics, and optimize across marketing
    programs.
  • Test&Target – This hosted software
    allows clients to make online content and offers more relevant
    to their customers.
  • Survey – The Survey hosted software assists
    organizations design, create, and implement online surveys to
    measure audience sentiment.
  • Publish – Publish is Omniture’s on-demand
    Web content management solution, enabling business users to
    create, manage, and update Web content without IT or Web
    developers; enables content owners to publish and maintain
    content on Websites.
Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft,
Oracle, IBM, HP, Salesforce.com
Digital Media The Digital Media segment
focuses primarily on creative professionals, such as graphic
designers, production artists, Web designers and developers, user
interface designers, writers, videographers, motion graphic artists,
and photographers.

There are several product families within this segment: Digital
Publishing Suite; Creative Cloud; Flash Platform; Digital
Marketing Suite:

  • Adobe Creative Cloud – The Creative Cloud is
    an integrated solution for print, Web, and mobile content
    publishing. 

    • The entire suite includes a number of offerings such as
      Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign Premiere Pro,
      After Effects, Dreamweaver, Adobe Muse, Flash Professional,
      Adobe XI Pro, Audition, Bridge, Edge Animate, Edge Code,
      Edge Inspect, Edge Reflow, Fireworks, Flash Builder, InCopy,
      Prelude, Adobe Media Encoder, Scout, SpeedGrade, Story Plus,
      PhoneGap Build, Prelude Live Blogger, Gaming SDK, Extension
      Manager, and ExtendScript Toolkit.

The Individual Components of the Creative Cloud include:

  • Adobe Dreamweaver – Dreamweaver is a
    software development application for the creation of Web sites
    such as venues for online commerce, customer service, and online
    educational content. The software includes capabilities for
    visually designing HTML pages, coding HTML and application
    logic, and working with application server technologies.
  • Adobe Encore – Encore is a professional DVD
    authoring and creation software, delivering design tools to
    create a streamlined DVD creation workflow.
  • Adobe Fireworks – Fireworks is a graphics
    design tool that allows for prototyping and designing Web sites
    and Web application interfaces.
  • Adobe Flash Professional – This authoring
    environment creates animation and multimedia content.
  • Adobe Illustrator – Illustrator is a
    vector-based illustration design tool used to create graphic
    artwork for print publications, Web sites, and video production.
  • Adobe InDesign – The popular InDesign
    page-layout application is designed for publishing
    professionals, delivering publishing solutions for magazine,
    newspaper, and other publishing applications.
  • Adobe Photoshop Family – Photoshop is a
    photo design, enhancement and editing tool. 

    • Photoshop is considered the standard against which all
      photo editing software is measured. It is in every level of
      photo manipulation, from high-level amateurs, to industry
      professionals.
    • The Photoshop Extended version adds additional tools for
      editing 3D and motion-based content and performing image
      analysis.
    • Lightroom – delivers methods for users to import, select,
      develop and showcase large volumes of digital images in the
      RAW format.
  • Adobe Premiere Pro – Premiere Pro is the
    professional digital video-editing release of the software, used
    to create broadcast-quality content for video, film, DVD,
    multimedia and streaming over the Web.
  • Adobe Acrobat – Acrobat is an application
    for authoring PDF-based documents, communications, and forms. It
    features numerous security protocols and controls, sharing
    functionality, and the ability to convert scanned documents into
    digitally editable documents.
  • Adobe After Effects – This software is used
    to develop cinematic visual effects and motion graphics. 
  • Adobe Audition – Audition consists of tools
    for audio editing, mixing, restoration, and other effects. 
  • SpeedGrade – Consists of the Lumetri Deep
    Color Engine to bring professional color grading to the
    workflow. 
  • Prelude – The Prelude software streamlines
    production tasks.
  • Encore – Encore is 64-bit software that
    enables the creation of DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and Web DVDs, all
    from a single interface.
  • Bridge – Cross-platform digital asset
    management software. 
  • Media Encoder – Automates the process of
    creating multiple encoded versions of source files, Adobe
    Premiere Pro sequences, and Adobe After Effects compositions.

The Digital Publishing Suite, a hosted solution, is targeted at
individual designers, media publishers, and advertising firms that
create and distribute content for tablet devices. Three versions
are available of this suite, which are the Enterprise Edition, the
Professional Edition, and the Single Edition. 

  • Single Edition – Geared towards individual
    designers and small design studios, the Single Edition is used
    for the creation of a single app and offers features such as the
    design/creation of unlimited .folio files, previewing
    interactive content on desktops and iPads, and sharing content
    with colleagues. 
  • Professional Edition – Designed for business
    publishers and mid-sized companies, the Professional Edition
    adds further features including prebuilt analytic reports and
    selling multi-.folio apps through Apple’s App Store and Amazon’s
    Kindle Fire Newsstand.
  • Enterprise Edition – For large ad agencies,
    the Enterprise Edition offers more features including creating
    custom push notifications, targeting content to unique customer
    segments using restricted distribution, and customization of the
    Content Viewer user interface. 

The Adobe Flash Platform enables the development and delivery of
applications, content, and video. Flash Platform includes client
technologies such as Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR, as well as
developer tools and technologies such as Adobe Flash Professional
and Adobe Flash Builder.  Adobe’s Platform products include:

  • Adobe AIR – AIR is a desktop client enabling
    developers to use existing Web development skills, such as HTML,
    Ajax, Flash and Flex, to build and deploy RIAs on the desktop
    and on non-PC devices.
  • Adobe Flash Player – Flash Player is the
    most widely distributed rich client software on PCs and consumer
    electronic devices, delivering a runtime environment for text,
    graphics, animations, sound, video, application forms, and
    two-way communications. Also available is the Flash Lite client
    software, uses in non-PC devices such as mobile phones and
    consumer electronic devices. Finally, Flash Builder is an
    Eclipse-based IDE for developing RIAs with the Adobe Flex
    framework for either Adobe Flash Player or Adobe AIR.

Adobe’s Acrobat family of products is offered for the creation and
exchange of electronic documents; the Acrobat.com service that
provides centralized online file sharing and storage capabilities,
as well as PDF creation; and an online word processor; spreadsheet
and presentation authoring capabilities. Acrobat is offered as:

  • Adobe Acrobat – Acrobat is available in a
    series of versions:

    •  Standard, which creates Adobe PDF documents from
      desktop authoring applications such as Microsoft Office
      software and graphics applications.
    •  Pro, which adds specialized capabilities for
      creative professional and engineering users, such as
      pre-flighting, color separation and measuring tools.
    • Pro Extended, which adds collaboration between extended
      teams of designers and engineers to communicate, visualize
      and document architectural and manufacturing designs using
      3D data.
Apple, Corel, Avid, Quark,
Microsoft, IBM
Print and Publishing

Adobe’s Print and Publishing business segment focuses on
technical and business publishing to legacy type and OEM printing
businesses. The line features:

  • Adobe ColdFusion – ColdFusion is a
    server-scripting environment and set of features used for
    building database-driven scalable applications that are
    accessible through Web browsers, Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe
    AIR. Also available is the ColdFusion Builder, a development
    tool for building ColdFusion applications that delivers
    development environment to code applications, manage servers,
    and deploy projects. Finally, Adobe offers ColdFusion in the
    Cloud, a hosted service currently in beta release for developers
    to build ColdFusion applications through the Amazon Web Services
    environment with access to the capabilities of ColdFusion as a
    hosted service.
  • Adobe PostScript – PostScript is a printing
    and imaging page description language for graphically-rich
    printing output from corporate desktop printers to high-end
    publishing printers.
  • Adobe PDF Print Engine – The PDF Print
    Engine is a printing platform that enables complete, end-to-end
    PDF-based workflows using common PDF technology to generate,
    preview, and print PDF documents.
  • Adobe Authorware – Authorware is a legacy
    rich media authoring tool used to develop caption based
    eLearning on Windows and Macintosh platforms.
  • Adobe Captivate – The Captivate tool is for
    the creation of eLearning content, including software
    simulation, quizzes, animation and multi-media, delivering the
    content in Adobe Flash and other formats.
  • Contribute – Contribute is Adobe’s tool for
    updating and publishing Web content, designed for non-technical
    users making minor changes to intranet and Internet Websites
    that conform to the structure, style, layout and site standards
    setup by a Website administrator. The tool also provides a tool
    to create and update blogs.
  • Adobe FrameMaker – The FrameMaker
    application is for authoring and publishing long, structured,
    content-rich documents including books, documentation, technical
    manuals and reports, supporting content publishing to multiple
    output formats such as including print, Adobe PDF, HTML, XML and
    Microsoft Word.
  • Adobe Shockwave Player – Adobe Shockwave
    media player deploys multimedia content for use in Internet
    solutions, including education, training, games and commerce.
  • FreeHand MX – FreeHand is Adobe’s
    professional vector graphics tool for creating high quality
    images that can be scaled. The tool supports developing images
    for print, the Web, and Adobe Flash Player.
  • CreatePDF – Allows users to convert PDF files
    via a mobile device, and then share them with others.
Microsoft, HP, Oracle, IBM

Major Competitors

Activity

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Products and Services

Adobe Systems is providing new
resources and expanded support for the education sector. Of note,
the software developer is extending its Creative Cloud
application process, freely, to “all students and teachers” from
August 24th through January 31, 2021. New customers can also
acquire volume licenses for individual schools or districts.
Other free offers include access to Adobe Portfolio for one year,
Distance Learning Hub, the Creative Educator program, and other
resources for educators and parents, via AdobeforEducation.com.

(08/27/2020)

Adobe Systems introduced an “as-a-Cloud” version of the
Adobe Experience Manager. The Adobe Experience Manager as a
Cloud Service is part of the over-arching Experience Cloud
portfolio. The release includes “out-of-box” capabilities and
customization options, including the ability to onboard and
access an application “in minutes”; go live; and access other
elements covering data and insight, content and personalization,
customer journey management, and commerce and advertising.

(01/13/2020)

Adobe‘s latest report on Black Friday shopping in
the US found that mobile devices accounted for a record-setting
percentage of online purchases. According to the company’s data
39 percent of online Black Friday purchases were made with
smartphones, a major bump from last year’s 33 percent. The
amount spent via these devices was up as well, growing to $2.9
billion in purchases, compared to 2018’s $2.1 billion total. In
total, Adobe estimates that $7.4 billion was spent online, up
from 2018’s $6.2 billion. The average purchase price per shopper
was apparently about $168, while the most popular items skewed
heavily towards electronics and video games.

(12/03/2019)

Adobe Systems
updated the Adobe Experience Platform with several features to
improve CXM (customer experience management). Innovations
include new data-governance capabilities, a release of its
Real-time Customer Data Platform service, and other elements for
helping personalize and deliver experiences through customer
journey orchestration and Photoshop-inspired analytics.

(11/18/2019)

Adobe Systems
announced the next Creative Cloud release, which includes a
series of “faster and more powerful products spanning multiple
surfaces.” This rollout includes “major” updates to Lightroom,
Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign, and Adobe XD; new
Sensei-powered features for Auto Reframe (Premiere Pro), Object
Selection (Photoshop), Auto Tone (Photoshop Camera), and Live
Brushes (Fresco); and other elements to “work faster and
smarter.”

(11/04/2019)

Researcher Bob Diachenko and security company Comparitech uncovered an unsecured Elasticsearch database containing about 7.5
million Adobe Creative
Cloud user records. Adobe was notified on October 19 and
promptly secured the database, which contained email addresses,
member IDs, and other information, although payment data and
passwords were not affected. Adobe released a statement
admitting that a misconfiguration was to blame for the breach.

(10/29/2019)

Adobe Systems
announced its new product portfolio for mid-market and SMB
businesses. This portfolio includes Magento Commerce
cloud-based omnichannel solutions; Marketo Engage updates; the
Adobe Analytics Foundation service for improving customer
experience with “deep” data insight; Sign for Small Business
tools for digitizing document workflows; and Creative Cloud for
Teams, for deploying Adobe apps.
Adobe Creates Organization to Support Mid-Market, SMB
Businesses Adobe Systems created a new organization to
support the needs of mid-market and SMB businesses. This group
will operate within the Digital Experience business, and focus on
accommodating “unique needs.”

(10/23/2019)

Alliances and Joint Ventures

IBM and its Red Hat subsidiary established a strategic partnership with Adobe Systems to “accelerate
digital transformation” and “strengthen real-time data security.”
Particular areas of focus will include improved hybrid cloud
deployment flexibility, certifying Adobe as “enabled for
financial services,” and extending iX services across Adobe’s
core enterprise applications. IBM also named Adobe as a “Global
Partner for Experience,” and disclosed plans to begin adopting
Adobe Experience Cloud and other enterprise applications to
transform global marketing.

(07/21/2020)

Microsoft and Adobe Systems have expanded their ongoing strategic
partnership with the Walgreens Boots
Alliance
. This agreement will see the parties launch a
digital experience and customer insights platform for offering
personalized healthcare and shopping offerings from the
retailer’s global pharmacy and store. This deal specifically
includes access to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights as
CDP (customer data platform) and Adobe Customer Experience
Management for delivering “unmatched customer experiences.”

(06/30/2020)

Adobe Systems and ServiceNow announced a
partnership integration agreement that is designed to deliver technology for connecting data from Adobe’s
Experience Platform and ServiceNow’s Customer Service
Management workflow product. This integration is expected to
provide “more seamless” connected customer services, enhanced
rich customer data and personalization, and other customer
service capabilities.

(05/05/2020)

Software AG
announced its participation in the Open Data Initiative (ODI) as a “Partner Advisory Council” member. This group – which
was founded by Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and AP in
2018 – aims to help companies transform customer experience
through “real-time insights” from the cloud. Software AG’s
webMethods.io is expected to play a “key” role in helping
customers access and integrate data across multiple sources and
application areas, providing pre-build connecters, integration
recipes, and templates for connecting real-time data sources.

(11/18/2019)

HP Inc and Adobe Systems announced Project Captis, a collaboration to develop and deliver
end-to-end products to “transform physical materials into digital
3D materials.” This project will take advantage of Z by HP
technology and Adobe Substance Alchemist software to enhance
the “creative workflow.” The companies plan to make Project
Captis available to partners across industries such as game
development, e-commerce, architecture, and fashion, among
“others.”

(11/04/2019)

Adobe Systems, Twitter, and The New York Times
(NYT) established the
Content Authenticity Initiative. This partnership will aim to
develop an “industry standard for digital content attribution.”
In particular, Adobe is developing an opt-in system to allow
creators and publishers to securely attach attribution data to
the content they share. This framework would then let authors
verify content in order to receive proper attribution, and also
provide consumers with improved verification of authenticity for
the work in question.

(11/04/2019)

Software AG
announced a “certified connector” for the Adobe Systems Marketo
Engage platform. This software is specifically designed to
integrate one’s SAP Service Cloud or Sales Cloud deployment with
Marketo Engage, thus establishing a more “direct connection
between customer data and Adobe’s customer experience
management (CXM) tools.” The application is powered by Software
AG’s webMethods.io platform.

(10/28/2019)

Personnel and Organizational

Adobe Systems
appointed Jonathan Vaas as VP, Investor Relations. Vaas – who
currently serves as Associate General Counsel and Assistant
Secretary – takes over for the retiring Mike Saviage. For his
part, Saviage will remain on in an advisory role and work with
Vaas to ensure a smooth transition “over the coming months.” The
new exec will report to EVP and CFO, John Murphy, and EVP and
General Counsel, Dana Rao.

(04/20/2020)

Adobe Systems
Charles Geschke announced his decision to not stand for
re-election to the Adobe Board of Directors. Geschke’s retirement
will be effective immediately, following the company’s Annual
Meeting; he will continue on as “Director Emeritus” and “continue
to participate in Board activities.” Geschke co-founded Adobe in
1982.

(04/06/2020)

Adobe Systems
announced a series of executive changes. Among the more
noteworthy items are EVP and Chief HR Officer, Donna Morris,
leaving the company; EVP Gloria Chen filling her role, effective
immediately; and CTO Abhay Parasnis assuming responsibility for
Corporate Strategy and Development. Additional details are
available via the Adobe Web site.

(02/03/2020)

Adobe Systems
appointed Anil Chakravarthy as EVP and GM, Digital Experience.
Chakravarthy will lead Adobe’s Digital Experience business, and
report directly to Adobe President and CEO, Shantanu Narayen.
Chakravarthy joins Adobe from Informatica, although he
has also worked with Symantec, VeriSign, and McKinsey.

(01/07/2020)

Financials

Adobe Systems
recorded strong Y2Y increases in its profits and revenues for the
fiscal 2020 third quarter ended August 28, 2020. Net income
reached $955 million, or $1.97 per share, an amount that is up by
20 percent when compared to FY19Q3 earnings of $793 million, or
$1.61 per share. Revenues, meanwhile, totaled $3.2 billion, which
is up by 28 percent from fiscal 2019 Q3 sales of $2.5 billion. By
segment, Digital Media revenue improved 19 percent Y2Y to $2.34
billion, while Digital Experience revenue was a flat $838
million.

(09/15/2020)

Adobe Systems logged
a 42 percent year-to-year gain in profits for the fiscal 2020
first quarter ended February 28, 2020. Earnings were $955
million, or $1.96 per share, compared to a fiscal 2019 Q1 net
income of $674 million, or $1.36 per share. Profits, it was
noted, reflect an “expense charge” related to the “cancellation
of corporate events” amidst the coronavirus situation. Adobe’s
revenues, meanwhile, were $3.1 billion, which is up by 19 percent
from FY19Q1 sales of $2.6 billion. By segment, Subscription sales
improved 22 percent year to year to $2.8 billion, Product revenue
was down 16 percent to $143 million, and Services and support
revenue fell 2 percent to $123 million.

(03/16/2020)

Adobe Systems
reported that its full-year fiscal revenue base hit just shy of
$12 billion. This amount – which reflected data for the 12-month
period ended November 29, 2019 – is up by 33 percent from fiscal
2018 sales of $9 billion. By segment, Subscription revenue grew
25 percent year to year to $10 billion, Product sales increased 4
percent to $648 million, and Services and support revenue was up
9 percent to $529 million. Full-year profits, meanwhile, totaled
$3 billion, or $6 per share, an amount that is up by 15 percent
from fiscal 2018 earnings of $2.6 billion, or $5.20 per share.
For Q4, Adobe posted revenues of $3 billion, which is up by 20
percent from fiscal 2018 fourth quarter sales of $2.5 billion,
with Subscription revenue growing 23 percent year to year to $2.7
billion, Product sales increasing 11 percent to $167 million, and
Services and support revenue up 6 percent to $138 million. Over
the same three-month period, Adobe’s net income was $852
million, or $1.74 per share, which is up by 26 percent from
FY18Q4 profits of $678 million, or $1.37 per share.

(12/16/2019)

Adobe Systems logged
strong year-to-year revenue and profit growth for the fiscal 2019
Q3 period ended August 30, 2019. Sales totaled $2.8 billion, an
amount that is up by 22 percent from fiscal 18Q3 revenues of $2.3
billion. By segment, Subscription revenue grew 25 percent year on
year to $2.5 billion; Product revenue increased 5 percent to $157
million; and Services and support sales were up 8 percent to $130
million. Adobe’s earnings, meanwhile, were $793 million, or $1.61
per share, which is up by 19 percent when compared to a fiscal
2018 net income of $666 million, or $1.34 per share.

(09/17/2019)

About the Author

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report]

Sherry Kercher is an editor for Faulkner Information
Services. She holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science,
and tracks and writes about storage, communication networks and equipment,
and Internet technologies.

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