Adobe set to buy Omniture

Adobe Systems plans to pay $1.8 billion (Dh6.6bn) for fast-growing business software maker Omniture Inc as the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat looks to turn around declining sales.

Adobe, which announced the deal on Tuesday as it reported lower quarterly sales and profit, has been struggling over the past year as the recession hurt technology spending and customers declined to upgrade older versions of its programs.

The acquisition would give Adobe a new stream of revenue to offset that decline. Omniture charges customers fees based on monthly website traffic, so sales are less sensitive to economic swings than Adobe. "There is no way Adobe can grow organically. This is a smart move," said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry.

Advertising agencies and companies use Omniture's software to analyse how consumers use websites. It is the biggest provider of such services, competing with Google and other smaller players. The vast majority of all professional websites are built with Adobe's Creative Suite line of design software.

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Sasa Zorovic said Adobe's customers will not choose to subscribe to Omniture's services simply because its technology is embedded into Creative Suite.

 

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