Filed under: Macworld, Rumors, Software, Graphic Design
Adobe trimming Expo budget, 600 jobs [updated]
Macworld notes today that Adobe won't have a booth at Macworld Expo, but will still be offering training sessions at the conference. Traditionally, Adobe's booth has been a major presence on the show floor.The bad news might not end there: A tipster with purported connections inside Adobe told us that the company is considering laying off a significant fraction of its nearly 7,000 employees, including management.
- Update 4 p.m.: The axe fell a few hours ago at Adobe, according to
twothree former employees,but we don't know how widespread the damage is. - Update 5 p.m.: Mike Downey, principal evangelist for the Flash, Flex and AIR products is "no longer with Adobe."
- Update 5:10 p.m.: Adobe issued a press release: "Adobe also announced the implementation of a restructuring program, and has taken steps to reduce its headcount by approximately 600 full-time positions globally. The restructuring will result in anticipated pre-tax charges totaling approximately $44 million to $50 million. The Company expects approximately $28 million to $30 million of the restructuring charges to be recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008." Read the full press release here.
This points to some serious, knee-jerk cost-cutting at Adobe, since Macworld Expo has been so valuable to Adobe's relationship with the Mac user base in the past.
"Adobe has decided to shift its focus at the Macworld trade show this year," the company said in a statement given to Macworld magazine. "Macworld [Expo] is a valuable industry show and we will still be an active part of it with members of our product team involved in Macworld tracks, including a full day of CS4 demo sessions with Adobe evangelists on Wednesday, January 7."
Adobe Creative Suite 4 was released in October.
[Via O'Grady's PowerPage.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Adam said 11:53AM on 12-03-2008
From what I hear through colleagues, Adobe representatives didn't even bother to show up for several seminars at a recent conference. They didn't cancel, they just didn't show up.
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Jeffry Houser said 11:57AM on 12-03-2008
Adam,
I hadn't heard that before do you have any more details on that?
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Jash Sayani said 12:40PM on 12-03-2008
Well its the same everywhere.... All companies you see are giving layoffs. May it be Airline, Automotive industry, Tech industry (Y! is a great example).
But can really help it. Its a bad time....
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Tim said 12:52PM on 12-03-2008
I'm hearing 25% of the staff across board, by lunchtime. With a Pep Rally following!
I wonder how many of those jobs will be outsourced?
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Brian said 1:36PM on 12-03-2008
The article says "Macworld Expo has been so valuable to Adobe's relationship with the Mac user base in the past." You mean to tell me that a significant part of the Mac User base goes to the MacWorld expo? Might be that the Mac media is feeling a little shunned and should get over itself.
As long as they produce the best software they can and deliver it on the Mac they're serving my little corner of the user base just fine.
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alansky said 2:03PM on 12-03-2008
Adobe software, as good as it is, is also outrageously expensive, which doesn't help them in the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression. It doesn't help things that many who bought CS3 now wish they had waited for CS4.
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ijohnjones said 9:33PM on 12-03-2008
I wonder how much more money they could make if they loosened the price up a bit on CS4. I am actually planning on skipping and waiting for CS5 because of the price.
joezeon said 8:52AM on 12-05-2008
Totally agree.
joezeon.blogspot.com
Nigel Moore said 2:30PM on 12-18-2008
I skipped CS3 because of the extortionate price in Europe, planning on upgrading from CS2 to CS4. I figured that that would work out about the same as upgrading twice in the USA. But, you know, I think I'll stick where I am for now.
Not happy that people are losing their jobs, but I don't feel in the slightest bit sorry for Adobe as a corporation.
creativetaco said 2:48PM on 12-03-2008
As someone that makes his living using some of adobes software- ie:After Effects- I was pretty underwhelmed by the intro of CS4 compared to CS3- I personally think it s a flop
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kjacobi said 3:13PM on 12-03-2008
Once the dust settles, Apple should buy them. They have plenty of cash.
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John B. said 5:50PM on 12-03-2008
i know, right?!
Ashwin said 6:47PM on 12-03-2008
The government wouldn't let that happen. They would be a near monopoly in the content production business. They would have almost 75% of the professional video editing business (Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro), would be a near monopoly in the digital photography software business (Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop).
They would also have to make cuts, because there is no point in having two separate programs that do the same thing, and significantly reduce competition. The amount of restructuring that Apple would have to do makes the acquisition impractical for Apple to undertake.
You also have to admit, the market for their products benefits from having competing solutions. It wouldn't benefit the customer either.
Knute5 said 11:36PM on 12-03-2008
Apple should and probably will buy them. Uncle Sam won't kill it - the market's too niche for antitrust. The only question mark is Windows support - Apple will probably continue this in some form. Audio and Video pros have been extremely happy with Apple's acquisition of Logic from eMagic and Final Cut from Macromedia (now part of Adobe). If history is any indication, what CS users would have to look forward to is a price drop and a removal of Adobe's increasingly onerous copy protection.
As somebody who's used PShop since version 2, I'd be very happy with this.
conigs said 9:25AM on 12-04-2008
Ashwin-
"They would have almost 75% of the professional video editing business (Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro)"
Not to be a nay-sayer, but Avid is still a major part of the video business... much, much, much higher than 25%. I would put it more at 60%.
That said, I cut in FCP nearly every day and use Adobe After Effects nearly as much.
PJ said 3:22PM on 12-03-2008
I'm guessing that Adobe figures they're preaching to the converted at Macworld, so in really tight economic times, why bother spending a bundle on people you already have in your pocket? I don't think anyone's going to think, Hey, I'm not going to upgrade to CS4 because Adobe didn't show up at Macworld.
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Filozzrd said 7:22PM on 12-03-2008
What is happening to the traditional MacWorld hype from Apple? I expected to hear/read some notice by e/m or mailed form this year, and now I have missed any "early bird" deadline (12.01.08).
Aside from Adobe, how many other exhibitors have changed plans? Enquiring minds need to know...
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Knute5 said 11:40PM on 12-03-2008
MWE early bird pricing was extended to the 8th.
Dave said 4:22PM on 12-03-2008
"considering laying off a significant fraction"
I love that. I know we all understand what's being said is phrased in a nice, politically correct way, but that sentence could also mean, "A sufficiently great tiny amount."
That's like the time I read on CNN, "Scientists have discovered the first concrete evidence that there might be life on other planets." ;-)
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Robert Palmer said 4:32PM on 12-03-2008
I see what you mean ... I meant "significant" not to describe the size of the fraction but instead to describe the importance of the workers at Adobe. Anytime you lay people off, there are hard decisions that have to be made to let go of important people.
The fraction, incidentally, that we're hearing so far is around 10 percent, which is not large, objectively, but still very painful for Adobe employees and their families. Can't confirm that yet, though.