Why did Figma agree to join Adobe? (beside of ~$20B)?

The following is all pure spontaneous speculation. Having been around this industry for a while, I was sensing some telltale signs in the actions of Figma that seemed to signal “restless investors” vibes. Things such as their continually evolving monetization strategy leading to notably higher enterprise pricing, which also introduced team and file management complexity. FigJam was both a great (Pandemic Era) idea, as well as a big distraction from further enhancing the core product. This is often the slingshot effect of a freemium product that offered a lot of value for free out of the gate, having to start clawing out of the debt-hole toward a future of profitability and ROI for investors. The pressure to not just beat Adobe, Sketch, UXPin et al for the hearts of users, but also become a big profitable business is high. Acquisition is often an attractive shortcut to scale, and a way to placate impatient investors (despite how customers may react). The promise of Figma’s autonomy from Adobe is interesting. Notes: Private Series E $332.9M total funding via 30 investors going back to 2013 https://www.crunchbase.com/organ...

Worst decision ever

This is one of the sad news I've heard this year. As you probably think the same, Adobe will f#$½ it up.

They wouldn't get a higher valuation based on their current or projected performance. It was an inflated price as Adobe were mostly interested in killing a competitor. It was a Scrooge McDuckian offer and they should've taken it. It's awful for people who used it and for the project going forward but you'd have done the same thing. We all would have.

Most probably, Adobe will mess up with the pricing of the Figma, biggest fear with this acquisition.

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To add to it, Adobe shares down by 15% after the acquisition. Maybe people are thinking adobe cannot handle it or what

Damnnnn, I hope MacBook performance doesn't decrease with this acquisition!

I remember when I first heard Figma's (then) young founder talk about how he was going to de-throne Adobe. I thought it brash and probably unrealistic. And then, well, Figma did just that. And while defenestrating Adobe, Figma chopped the legs out from under Sketch, Invision, and numerous other prototyping tools like Axure. So, if they own the market, why get acquired? The old adage says, "If you can't beat them, join them." But sometimes you beat them and join them anyway. Adobe represents scale and reach for Figma. Plus, as others have noted, twenty-billion buckaroos. The more interesting question to me, however, is what this means for Adobe XD. I have to imagine Adobe will kill it and port its users over to Figma.