Adobe Systems Incorporated to Aquire Macromedia

JeffCGD

Registered
Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Posted on both Adobe and Macromedia's home pages.

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/adobeandmacromedia.html

"Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both boards of directors, Macromedia stockholders will receive, at a fixed exchange ratio, 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange. Based on Adobe’s and Macromedia’s closing prices on Friday April 15, 2005, this represents a price of $41.86 per share of Macromedia common stock.


The combination of Adobe and Macromedia strengthens our mission of helping people and organizations communicate better. Through the combination of our powerful development, authoring and collaboration tools – and the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash – we have the opportunity to drive an industry-defining technology platform that delivers compelling, rich content and applications across a wide range of devices and operating systems.


By combining the passion and creativity of two leading-edge companies, we will continue driving innovations that are changing the ways people everywhere are experiencing and interacting with information.


Adobe is required to include the following legend on any communications that may be deemed to be offering or soliciting material under the applicable SEC rules and regulations:


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT


Adobe Systems Incorporated intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4, and Adobe and Macromedia, Inc. intend to file a related joint proxy statement/prospectus, in connection with the merger transaction involving Adobe and Macromedia. Investors and security holders are urged to read the registration statement on Form S-4 and the related joint proxy/prospectus when they become available because they will contain important information about the merger transaction. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of these documents (when they are available) and other documents filed with the SEC at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Adobe by contacting Macromedia Investor Relations at 408-536-4416. Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the documents filed with the SEC by Macromedia by contacting Macromedia Investor Relations at 415-252-2106.


Adobe, Macromedia and their directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Adobe and Macromedia in connection with the merger transaction. Information regarding the special interests of these directors and executive officers in the merger transaction will be included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus of Adobe and Macromedia described above. Additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of Adobe is also included in Adobe's proxy statement for its 2005 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 14, 2005. Additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of Macromedia is also included in Macromedia's proxy statement for its 2004 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on June 21, 2004 and Macromedia's proxy statement for a Special Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on October 6, 2004. These documents are available free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov and from Investor Relations at Adobe and Macromedia as described above."
 
With any luck Adobe will resurrect the good bits of Freehand that Macromedia butchered with versions 10 and MX, and finally acknowledge that you simply cannot treat vector art editing the same way you do Pixel art editing (a la Illustrator). The potential for a Illutrator/Freehand hybrid is a tempting thought.
 
I see there will be two product lines for the forseeable future.. But i guess it will end the differences in flash made by macro or adobe apps... and what will happen to FlashPaper? (uses Flash to display PDFs, effectively..)
 
Whee!

This is WONDERFUL news :).

Adobe is much better at optimising their software for Macs than Macromedia is; maybe we'll have a halfway decent Flash player on our platform!

Holy crap; imagine what CS3 is going to be like (Eep!).
 
Man, this announcement made me sick. I'm really worried about Fireworks and Dreamweaver now. I'm a long time Photoshop user, but I hate the thought that Fireworks might see some sort of ugly death or that the workflow may be moved back more inline with Photoshop. I sure hope that Dreamweaver and Firworks take GoLive's place and so forth... Just a little nervous.
 
I'd never thought of that ylon.. I know there is a direct competitor to Fireworks, but it isn't Photoshop. PS doesn't do slicing up like FW. but there is an adobe app that does. But yes, I would HATE to see FW die. Maybe optimise it yes (even on my g5, it could be faster!)
 
Yeah, it would be great to see it stepped up or somehow integrated INTO Photoshop while keep its own workflow or having a Fireworks/Photoshop workflow, but otherwise, I'm no big fan of Adobe as of late... If we catch wind otherwise we'll just have to go kicking and screaming.

Also, I'm worried as I'm a DevNet member of Macromedia, seems like this may not have the advantages that its had in the future. Macromedia is __very__ good to its DevNet members in my experience.
 
Wow. Adobe and Macromedia are each better at way different things. If the software is merged right, this could be wonderful news. If not, this could be a disaster.

*On pins and needles*

EDIT: I like how, if you look at Adobe's web site, they say they're "acquiring" Macromedia, but if you go to Macromedia's web site, they're "joining forces." lol
 
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