Adobe Inc. is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California. In 1982, John Warnock and Charles Geschke left Xerox PARC and established Adobe to develop and sell the PostScript page description language.[1] Apple Computer licensed PostScript in 1985 for use in its LaserWriter printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution.[2] The company has acquired 25 companies, purchased stakes in five, and divested six, most of which were software companies. Of the companies that Adobe has acquired, 18 were based in the United States. Adobe has not released the financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions.
Adobe's first acquisition was Emerald City Software in March 1990. In August 1994, the company acquired Aldus Corporation, a Seattle-based software company credited with creating the desktop publishing industry with its PageMaker software.[3] The company's products were integrated into Adobe's product line later in the year, and re-branded as Adobe PageMaker and Adobe After Effects;[4] Aldus also owned the TIFF file format, transferring ownership to Adobe.[5] In October 1995, Adobe acquired the desktop publishing software company Frame Technology for US$566 million, and re-branded its FrameMaker software to Adobe FrameMaker.[6] Adobe acquired GoLive Systems in January 1999 and obtained its CyberStudio HTML editor software, releasing it as Adobe GoLive.[7] In May 2003, Adobe acquired Syntrillium Software and its digital audio editor software Cool Edit Pro, and merged it into its product line, re-releasing it as
In the 1990s, Adobe purchased a minority stake in four companies, and it purchased a stake in one company in the 2000s. Adobe has also divested six companies, companies in which parts of the company are sold to another company. All of its divestments were made in the 1990s, with its most recent divestment made in August 1999 when it sold Macromedia Pathware to Lotus Software.
Acquisitions
Indirect acquisitions
Adobe also owns the assets of numerous companies, through less direct means, through the mergers or acquisitions of companies later acquired by Adobe.
- Company of Science and Art (CoSA)
- Acquired by Aldus
- Allaire Corporation
- Acquired by Macromedia
- Live Software
- Acquired by Allaire Corporation
- Authorware Inc
- Merged to form Macromedia
Stakes
Divestitures
See also
- List of largest mergers and acquisitions
- Lists of corporate acquisitions and mergers
External links
References
- Blitstein, Ryan. How Adobe launched a revolution San Jose Mercury News, 2006-10-30, retrieved 2008-10-03^
- LePage, Rick. Opinion: Adobe's DNA is part of Apple Macworld, 2007-09-11, retrieved 2008-10-19^
- Lewis, Peter H. Adobe and Aldus Plan a $500 Million Merger