Few companies are thrashing more in the AI wave than Adobe. The maker of creative software has slid to an eight-year share-price low. Its market capitalisation has fallen more than 40 per cent since the start of the year — when investors started to worry in earnest that insurgent AI tools would replace conventional software — shedding more than $60bn.
Some of its executives seem to have read the writing on the wall. Finance chief Dan Durn is leaving to take up the same role at Marvell, a chipmaker instrumental in the AI shake-up. Chief executive Shantanu Narayen plans to step down after nearly two decades running the company, though he will stay on as chair.
Measured by its top line — revenue increased 13 per cent in the latest quarter, the fastest rate in four years — Adobe is hardly in crisis. But it does risk losing its edge. AI presents an epochal deflationary threat, cutting into demand for flagship Adobe tools such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and InDesign, which are found at all levels of the creative industries. Its response has been to offer products for free in the hopes of selling AI add-ons, but converting itinerant users into steady customers is easier said than done.