• silicon.com
• Technology
• Software

By Matt Hines, 18 April 2005 09:50

NEWS Desktop publishing specialist Adobe Systems is buying multimedia software maker Macromedia in a $3.4bn deal geared toward building a multimedia powerhouse.

The all-stock deal should create a better-stocked source of tools for building and distributing multimedia content across a range of operating systems and devices, the companies said on Monday. They stressed the merger would allow them to expand more rapidly into the market for audio and video applications for use in handhelds and other gadgets.

In a conference call, Bruce Chizen, Adobe's chief executive officer, said the buyout creates a more robust company capable of delivering new technology into a number of emerging markets.

"This acquisition strengthens Adobe's mission of helping people and organizations communicate better," Chizen said. "Whether it is documents, images, the web, TV or new wireless and other non-PC devices, the methods we use to access this information continue to evolve."

Adobe is best known for its PDF, or Portable Document Format, technology for presenting text files online. Macromedia's flagship product is the Flash animation software.

Chizen said the combined entity would be able to serve a wider audience than either company currently reaches, delivering new tools and services to content developers as the multimedia software sector evolves.

"The formats and standards governing communications methodologies are rapidly changing, and the creators of this information are challenged with how they cost-effectively create, deliver and manage that information," Chizen said.

In an interview with CNET News.com in February, Chizen talked about Adobe's shift toward providing software for big companies and the shadows cast by software makers Microsoft and Apple Computer.

"If you just look at the number of government agencies around the world that already encourage the use of PDF and accept it as a de facto standard, it's pretty hard for me to see how Microsoft's going to come in and just unseat all those workflows," he said at the time. "But they are Microsoft and they do have $40bn in revenue."

Under the terms of the deal, Macromedia's shareholders will receive 0.69 share of Adobe's stock, which will be valued at $41.86, based on the shares' closing price of $60.66 on Friday, for each share of Macromedia stock. The deal represents a roughly 25 per cent improvement for Macromedia shareholders, based on the $33.45 closing price of the multimedia company's stock on Friday.

In the combined company, Chizen will remain Adobe's CEO, and Shantanu Narayen will retain his position as president and chief operating officer. Macromedia's president and CEO, Stephen Elop, will join Adobe with the title of president of worldwide field operations. Rob Burgess, chairman of Macromedia's board of directors, will join Adobe's board.

Elop, who has been an executive with Macromedia since 1998, said the merger would allow the combined company to expand its reach into new areas of multimedia authoring, with a growing emphasis on bringing his company's Flash graphics presentation format into new devices. Along with added resources, the executive said, Adobe will provide Macromedia with a range of potential customers.

"By focusing on more complete solutions that utilize our platform, and by interacting on an enterprise footing with our largest customers, we have been able to expand Macromedia from being not only a supplier of great software but also a strategic vendor to a growing number of customers," Elop said. "It makes sense to do this today because we are doing well."

Adobe's financial team said that based on a number of similarities between the two companies, they would expect some cost savings once the companies are combined, but they did not supply any further specifics. They did say that the combined entity will be "built on Adobe's infrastructure".

In conjunction with the deal, Adobe announced plans to repurchase $1bn in stock after the Macromedia acquisition is completed. The transaction is expected to close later this year.

Also in combination with the acquisition announcement, Adobe reported that its second-quarter earnings and revenue would achieve the high end of its previous guidance, based on strong demand for its flagship Acrobat desktop publishing software. In March, Adobe announced earnings-per-share estimates of between 51 cents and 55 cents per share, on revenue of between $475m and $495m.

Macromedia said it expects to exceed its own revenue guidance, saying it expects to come in above the $108m to $113m projection that it previously estimated for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended 31 March.

Matt Hines writes for CNET News.com