The fact their headquarters are in the US isn't the relevant bit - it's the fact that they operate in Europe that's important. Figma and Adobe could withdraw their offerings from Europe and they'd be free to do what they want, but that's not very likely.
If you want to operate globally you have to accept the laws of the places where you do business. You can't just say "but HQ is in 'merica so screw you" and expect to continue trading in those countries.
Have there been any examples of this? I'd be really interested to know what happens in practice if the EU say "No acquisition" and Adobe just goes ahead with the acquisition. Do Adobe's products get pulled off the shelf? Do they face a monetary fine? What happens 10 years down the road when Figma is completely integrated into Adobe and Adobe still aren't operating in the EU at what point does the EU say "Hey, you're allowed back"?
Because they both operate in the EU, have customers in the EU, make money in the EU, and have legal presences in the EU. Generally, any merger of large multinational corporations will require multinational approval - the US and EU at a bare minimum, often also the UK, Japan, China, and any other countries with strong regulatory regimes where one of the companies has a major/critical presence.
Any one of these countries can block a merger if they see an antitrust issue; Qualcomm and NXP found this out the hard way with China a few years ago, and Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are finding that out with the UK right now. Of course, these companies could flip off China or the UK and just merge anyway, but then they'd risk being subject to crippling fines, having their local assets seized, and even being barred from doing business in that market altogether.
onion2k|2 years ago
If you want to operate globally you have to accept the laws of the places where you do business. You can't just say "but HQ is in 'merica so screw you" and expect to continue trading in those countries.
SilverBirch|2 years ago
calgarymicro|2 years ago
Any one of these countries can block a merger if they see an antitrust issue; Qualcomm and NXP found this out the hard way with China a few years ago, and Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are finding that out with the UK right now. Of course, these companies could flip off China or the UK and just merge anyway, but then they'd risk being subject to crippling fines, having their local assets seized, and even being barred from doing business in that market altogether.
djvdq|2 years ago
LatteLazy|2 years ago