Adobe Promoted the Executive Furthest From Its Creative Franchise
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Adobe promoted the executive furthest from its creative franchise.
The executive closest to it is leaving.
On September 3, the board named Anil Chakravarthy president and chief executive, effective December 1. Shantanu Narayen, chief executive since 2007, will become executive chair.
The same day, David Wadhwani said on LinkedIn that he’s leaving. He ran the creativity and productivity business, which includes Creative Cloud, for nearly five years. He had been considered for the top job.
Chakravarthy joined Adobe in January 2020 to run its marketing software business, Digital Experience, then added field operations. Before that he spent four years as chief executive of Informatica, a cloud data management company.
The search ran nearly six months and looked outside. The board elevated its enterprise software leader anyway and kept Narayen above him with an executive title. I read that as continuity at the top and a creative franchise losing its leader underneath it.
Two risks come with the choice.
First: Chakravarthy has run a large business inside Adobe, never Adobe itself. Informatica was roughly a tenth of Adobe’s size.
Second: Adobe still has no permanent chief financial officer. Dan Durn left on June 15 for Marvell Technology, and interim finance chief Steve Day presented third-quarter results on September 10. Chakravarthy either starts with a search or inherits a finance chief chosen under Narayen.
Figma is still an independent competitor because Adobe’s $20 billion bid for it failed under Narayen. He is staying.
At Eagle Talon we test a chief executive’s operating record, capital allocation history and governance position against the job ahead. His record is in building and selling enterprise software. On capital allocation and the creative franchise, he’s untested.
Watch who takes Wadhwani’s seat, and who picks them.
If Creative Cloud is the franchise under threat, is Chakravarthy the leader you would have put in front of it?
🔗 Source: Shantanu Narayen Announces Decision to Transition as Adobe’s CEO Once Successor is Named
