Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen leaves after 18 years; schoolmate Satya Nadella applauds ’empathy to creative process’

The big picture is that both Adobe and Narayen have done very well in the last 18 years and the change in leadership could be strategic, said an expert. “At least until 2021, Adobe had done exceedingly well, with strategic acquisitions such as Behance and Magento as well,” said Kashyap Kompella, founder of technology consultancy firm RPA2AI Research. But, it has faced business pressures given the agility of Canva’s modular pricing and over a failed Figma acquisition attempt. “Adobe has struggled—especially since it was set up for the SaaS pricing model,” he added.