Korea's FTC to review Adobe's $20 billion Figma bid

Korea's antitrust agency will review Adobe's bid to acquire Figma, a product design platform, which could affect the global design tool industry. The European Commission has also expressed concern about reducing competition.

Adobe logo is seen on smartphone. [REUTERS]

The country’s antitrust agency will review Adobe’s bid to acquire product design platform Figma, a $20 billion deal that could significantly impact the global design tool industry.

The deal was not subject to the review of Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC), but Adobe voluntarily filed for the assessment last month.

The result could come out as early as November, but the process could last through next year, the FTC said in a statement.

The mega-sized deal has become the subject of controversy as the European Commission, an antitrust enforcer of the European Union, raised concern for the acquisition in its preliminary investigation, citing the possibility of reducing competition in global markets.

The Korean regulator described the buyout as a “killer acquisition,” a term for when a company acquires control of an innovative company to eliminate a possible source of competition.

“The merger can be considered a ‘killer acquisition,’ and the antitrust regulators in the U.S., EU, U.K. and Japan are closely investigating the proposed deal,” the FTC said in a statement notifying the beginning of its review.

The watchdog went on to explain that the proposal involves both horizontal integration that merges a competitor and conglomerate integration, a term that refers to acquiring a company that operates in a different industry or market.

The FTC has reviewed multiple controversial mergers between U.S. companies. Back in May, the Korean FTC greenlit Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of the biggest deals ever in the video game industry.

It gave unconditional approval of the $68.7 billion deal filed in April last year because of the limited influence the companies' games have in the domestic market.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]