Two institutional investors, Pembroke Pines Firefighters & Police Officers Pension Fund and the City of Hollywood, FL Police Officers’ Retirement System, have filed a class action lawsuit today against Adobe Inc. (“Adobe” or the “Company”), Shantanu Narayen, John Murphy, Daniel Durn, David Wadhwani and Jonathan Vaas, alleging they defrauded investors by issuing false and misleading statements concerning competition the Company faced with regard to certain of its key products.

The suit, brought in federal court in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York was filed by leading investor law firm Grant & Eisenhofer.

The action is brought on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or acquired Adobe common stock between July 23, 2021 and September 15, 2022, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The action is captioned Pembroke Pines Firefighters & Police Officers Pension Fund and the City of Hollywood Police Officers’ Retirement System v. Adobe Inc., Shantanu Narayen, John Murphy, Daniel Durn, David Wadhwani and Jonathan Vaas, [Case number: The civil action number is: 1:23-cv-09260; SDNY]

The complaint alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Specifically, Adobe is a software company that offers tools for sharing documents, editing pictures and designing web pages. Its competitors include Figma, a company that provides a web-based design tool. Figma experienced rapid revenue and market capitalization growth just prior to the beginning of the Class Period, and Defendants were repeatedly questioned during the Class Period about whether Figma would pose a serious threat to Adobe’s financial success. Defendants repeatedly misled investors to believe that Figma did not pose a serious threat, and in fact could actually be beneficial to Adobe as it might attract more users who would begin with Figma’s products and graduate to Adobe’s.

Adobe thus shocked its investors when, on September 15, 2022, it announced that it had agreed to acquire Figma at a price of $20 billion – double Figma’s valuation and a multiple of 50 times its revenue. Investors learned for the first time that they had been misled. Contrary to Defendants’ statements, Figma did pose a major threat to Adobe’s financial success. The threat was serious enough that Adobe agreed to an astronomically overpriced acquisition of Figma in order to stifle any competition. News that Adobe would acquire Figma sent the price of Adobe’s stock down by 17%.

For investors who purchased or acquired Adobe common stock during the Class Period, you are a member of this proposed Class and may be able to seek appointment as lead plaintiff, which is a court-appointed representative for the Class, by complying with the relevant provisions for the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”). See 15 U.S.C. Section 78u-4(a)(2)(A)(i)-(iv). If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court by no later than December 19, 2023, which is lead plaintiff deadline that was established by publication of this notice on October 20, 2023. You do not need seek to become a lead plaintiff in order to share in any possible recovery. You may also retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action.

If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Caitlin M. Moyna at Grant & Eisenhofer at 646-722-8513, or via email at cmoyna@gelaw.com.

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