Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, February 24 (Xinhua)-- the U.S. Justice Department is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit to prevent software maker Adobe from acquiring cloud-based design and development platform Figma for $20 billion, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit could take place as early as next month, and authorities have routinely met with Adobe representatives before filing the lawsuit. Antitrust authorities are reported to be worried that the merger will reduce the choice of professional designers.

Adobe shares fell slightly in after-hours trading on the news, down 4.62 per cent as of CTOnews.com 's press release.

Adobe responded to the report that it and Figma belong to different product areas, Figma focuses on interaction design, while the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

"We are in constructive and cooperative discussions with regulators in countries such as the US, UK and EU," Adobe said. "We continue to expect the deal to be completed in 2023."

It is worth mentioning that Figma was once the strongest competitor to Adobe's own web design tool, Adobe XD. Last September, Adobe trumpeted Figma's collaborative design tools when it announced its $20 billion acquisition of the San Francisco-based startup.

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