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Macromedia News

ADOBE TO ACQUIRE MACROMEDIA
Combined Company to Deliver Industry-Defining Technology Platform for Rich, Interactive Content
SAN JOSE, Calif. - April 18, 2005 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion.

As Drew Mclellan asks, is this the end of the road for Fireworks? It's a bit like Holden buying Ford, or Honda buying Suzuki and I'm sure that along with Industry-Defining Technology Platform for Rich, Interactive Content, there will be product and staffing rationalisation.

The new logo has already been leaked by Yokel

Update: An interesting opinion piece by Nico Macdonald in Bad news for online tools. An extract...

The acquisition of the much smaller Macromedia won't tip the balance of Adobe's activity to the web, and it is likely to put a brake on Macromedia's innovative and energetic development around Dreamweaver and Flash. This trend will be reinforced by the conservative dictates of the corporate market Adobe is increasingly embracing.

Most mergers and acquisitions are about cost-cutting, and many are a sign of the failure of the acquirer to develop products and services that can compete with those of the acquiree. Despite Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen's statement that the acquisition "is not a consolidation play", this is the certainly the case with its take-over of Macromedia. Dreamweaver won't suffer as badly from the poor parenting as PageMill and GoLive experienced, but neither is it likely to flourish, and that is bad news for online development and collaboration.