Adobe Cuts Jobs, Cites Weak CS4 Sales

Posted on 12/8/2008 by Julia Dudnik Stern | Printable Version | Comments (2)

Adobe announced that it is cutting 600 full-time jobs—approximately 8% of its global workforce—as a result of weaker-than-expected sales of Creative Suite 4. The company also reported preliminary fourth-quarter revenues, which did not meet expectations.

President and chief executive officer Shantanu Narayen said that the global economic crisis significantly impacted Adobe revenues for the fourth quarter (ending Nov. 28). The workforce reductions are part of a restructuring program that aims to reduce operating costs.

Adobe’s fourth-quarter revenue target range was $925 million to $955 million. Preliminary results reported last week are in the range of $912 million to $915 million. The company expects revenues to continue decreasing, predicting $800 million to $850 million during the first quarter of 2009.

Creative Suite 4 began shipping in the fall in North America and Europe. Professional photographers, designers and others who normally invest in professional-grade software have buckled down for tough times. The fact that software spending is not discretionary but key to making a living is, perhaps, most telling, as it sheds light on how professionals see the near future of their businesses.

Stephen Frink Posted Dec 8, 2008
"The fact that software spending is not discretionary but key to making a living is, perhaps, most telling, as it sheds light on how professionals see the near future of their businesses."

Maybe so, but as significantly is feature set in Lightroom 2, which most of us already bought, integrates nicely with CS3. This makes upgrade to CS4 less mandatory than with previous upgrade cycles. It may be that "upgrade fatigue" will affect both hardware and software in tough economic times, but it may also be that CS4 did not bring enough to the table to force upgrade.

Rio Helmi Posted Dec 8, 2008
I would have to agree with Stephen, it's not just how photographers see the near future of their businesses, but also what significant edge to the final image and workflow does CS4 bring over CS3, which itself was a big leap up from CS2, and the whole CS package was a quantum leap up from previous photoshop versions. Other software comes up to scratch, and some loyalists say have surpassed photoshop (.g. think Capture One Pro). I'm not arguing which is better, simply that there really are viable choices out there, even if Adobe's market positioning is strong.

Until the next quantum leap there will be a plateau, and to be frank most photographers are dealing with an editorial/stock market that doesn't really require much more than we have now, unless they really are in the 'high end' commercial zone.

Adobe Cuts Jobs, Cites Weak CS4 Sales

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