U.S. Department of Justice gives the all clear to Adobe-Macromedia merger.
In a joint press released issued late this afternoon, Adobe Systems Incorprated (Nasdaq: ADBE) and Macromedia, Incorporated (Nasdaq: MACR) announced that they have received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice in Adobe’s proposed–and now all but imminent–acquisition of Macromedia.
On April 18, 2005, Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia in an all-stock transaction. Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, holders of Macromedia common stock will receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock for each share of Macromedia common stock they own at the closing of the acquisition. In August, the stockholders of each company voted in favor of the transaction.
The April announcement prompted a DOJ investigation of the proposed acquistion based on the fact that both companies produce products and technologies that compete in certain markets–most notably the Web design arena with Adobe’s GoLive and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver desktop applications.
Although the regulatory approval in European jurisdictions is still pending, the U.S. DOJ stamp of approval makes the merger almost a certainty. The parties anticipate closing the deal sometime this Fall. No word has been given about the terms of the DOJ approval, and whether the companies will first be required to divest competing products such as GoLive or Dreamweaver, or Illustrator or Freehand.