Access the NEW Basecamp Support Portal

Adobe Inc.

« Back to Glossary Index

History and Milestones
– Adobe Inc. was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke.
– The company started in John Warnock’s garage.
– The name ‘Adobe’ comes from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California.
– Adobe’s corporate logo features a stylized A and was designed by graphic designer Marva Warnock.
– Steve Jobs attempted to buy the company for $5 million in 1982, but the founders refused.
– Adobe focused on developing specialized printing software in the 1980s.
– They created the Adobe PostScript page description language, which became the industry-standard printer language by 1987.
– Adobe released digital fonts in a proprietary format called Type 1.
– Illustrator, a vector-based drawing program, was introduced in the mid-1980s.
– In 1993, Adobe introduced PDF (Portable Document Format) and Adobe Acrobat and Reader software.
– In 1994, Adobe acquired Aldus Corporation, adding PageMaker and After Effects to its product line.
– Adobe acquired FrameMaker, a long-document DTP application, in 1995.
– In 1996, Adobe acquired Ares Software Corp.
– Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, adding various software products to its lineup.
– In 2003, Adobe purchased Cool Edit Pro and renamed it Adobe Audition.
– Adobe released Adobe Media Player in 2008.
– On April 27, 2008, Adobe discontinued the development and sales of GoLive in favor of Dreamweaver.
– Adobe launched Acrobat.com, a series of web applications, on June 1, 2008.

Present and Products
– Adobe is headquartered in San Jose, California.
– The company specializes in software for content creation and publication.
– Adobe’s flagship products include Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat Reader.
– They offer a subscription software as a service (SaaS) called Adobe Creative Cloud.
– Adobe is considered one of the top global leaders in Customer Experience Management (CXM).

Recent Developments
– Adobe had ongoing arguments with Apple over the lack of support for Adobe Flash on Apple products.
– Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs criticized Flash for its reliability and security.
– Adobe acquired Day Software and integrated their line of products.
– Adobe acquired DemDex, Inc. to add audience-optimization software to its online marketing suite.
– Adobe unveiled a new mobile photo service called Carousel, which later became Adobe Revel.
– The annual Adobe Summit was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
– Adobe banned political ads features on its digital advert sales platform as the US presidential elections approached in 2020.
– Adobe acquired Workfront, a provider of marketing collaboration software, for $1.5 billion.
– Adobe announced the acquisition of Frame.io, a cloud-based video collaboration platform, for $1.275 billion.
– Adobe added payment services to its e-commerce platform in 2021.

Finances and Recognition
– Adobe’s revenue increased from $1.966 billion in 2005 to $12.806 billion in 2020.
– The company experienced growth rates ranging from -21.52% in 2009 to 22.47% in 2010.
– Net income varied from $268 million in 2014 to $2.951 billion in 2019.
– Adobe’s stock price per share ranged from $28.63 in 2009 to $490.564 in 2019.
– The number of employees increased from 11,847 in 2013 to 22,634 in 2019.
– Fortune recognized Adobe as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For since 2000.
– Adobe was recognized as a Best Place to Work by Glassdoor.
– Fast Company included Adobe on its list of the Most Innovative Companies.

Criticisms and Controversies
– Pricing: Retail prices are up to twice as much in non-US countries compared to the US.
– Security: Hackers have exploited vulnerabilities in Adobe programs, such as Adobe Reader.
– Customer data breach: Sensitive data of millions of customers was stolen in a security breach.
– Anti-competitive practices: Adobe acquired a competing product, FreeHand, and stalled its development.
– Cancellation fees: Adobe faced criticism for its cancellation fees.
– Chief executive officers: John Warnock, Bruce Chizen, and Shantanu Narayen.
Failed acquisition of Figma: Adobe’s planned acquisition of Figma was abandoned due to regulatory push-back.

Note: The content provided is an example and may not reflect accurate information about Adobe Inc.

Adobe Inc. (Wikipedia)

Adobe Inc. (/əˈdbi/ ə-DOH-bee), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the creation and publication of a wide range of content, including graphics, photography, illustration, animation, multimedia/video, motion pictures, and print. Its flagship products include Adobe Photoshop image editing software; Adobe Illustrator vector-based illustration software; Adobe Acrobat Reader and the Portable Document Format (PDF); and a host of tools primarily for audio-visual content creation, editing and publishing. Adobe offered a bundled solution of its products named Adobe Creative Suite, which evolved into a subscription software as a service (SaaS) offering named Adobe Creative Cloud. The company also expanded into digital marketing software and in 2021 was considered one of the top global leaders in Customer Experience Management (CXM).

Adobe, Inc.
FormerlyAdobe Systems Incorporated (1982–2018)
TypePublic
IndustrySoftware
FoundedDecember 1982; 41 years ago (1982-12)
Mountain View, California, U.S.
Founders
HeadquartersAdobe World Headquarters, ,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
ServicesSaaS
RevenueIncrease US$17.606 billion (Fiscal Year Ended December 2, 2022)
Increase US$6.098 billion (Fiscal Year Ended December 2, 2022)
Decrease US$4.756 billion (Fiscal Year Ended December 2, 2022)
Total assetsDecrease US$27.165 billion (Fiscal Year Ended December 2, 2022)
Total equityDecrease US$14.051 billion (Fiscal Year Ended December 2, 2022)
Number of employees
29,239 (As of December 2, 2022)
Websiteadobe.com
Footnotes / references

Adobe was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC to develop and sell the PostScript page description language. In 1985, Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution. Adobe later developed animation and multimedia through its acquisition of Macromedia, from which it acquired Macromedia Flash; video editing and compositing software with Adobe Premiere, later known as Adobe Premiere Pro; low-code web development with Adobe Muse; and a suite of software for digital marketing management.

As of 2022, Adobe has more than 26,000 employees worldwide. Adobe also has major development operations in the United States in Newton, New York City, Arden Hills, Lehi, Seattle, Austin and San Francisco. It also has major development operations in Noida and Bangalore in India.

« Back to Glossary Index

Request an article

Please let us know what you were looking for and our team will not only create the article but we'll also email you to let you know as soon as it's been published.
Most articles take 1-2 business days to research, write, and publish.
Content/Article Request Form

Submit your RFP

We can't wait to read about your project. Use the form below to submit your RFP!
Request for Proposal

Contact and Business Information

Provide details about how we can contact you and your business.


Quote Request Details

Provide some information about why you'd like a quote.