The $20 billion deal between Adobe and Figma was called off amid regulatory scrutiny. Figma’s internal valuation now stands at $10 billion, and employees who were set to benefit are now disappointed. Start-ups facing regulatory scrutiny are experiencing changes in the tech industry. British regulators are targeting tech deals, and mergers in the European Union are facing ride scrutiny from the Competition and Markets Authority. Since the deal’s collapse, the effects have been felt. Amazon called off an acquisition of a company, and Illumina agreed to sell a company after battling regulators. Figma and Adobe scrapped their deal after British regulators found that it would eliminate competition in software markets. The ripple effects of the deal and startups in Silicon Valley are being deeply felt. Investors hope that Figma will be able to succeed on its own, despite the collapse of the acquisition deal. Figma refused Adobe’s attempts to buy it and aimed for a higher price. The deal collapsed when Adobe canceled work on a new product, despite months of working to comply with regulatory investigations. Figma has worked to comply with matters like dealing with stock policies when the deal collapsed and has since been dealing with the financial and emotional blows.
