After 18 years at the helm, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen is set to hand over the reins to a new leader. In a memo to employees, Narayen announced his decision to step down, with the Board of Directors now tasked with identifying a successor.
Narayen will stay on as Chair of the Board to help the new CEO transition, drawing on his own experience when he took over from co-founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke.
Under Narayen's leadership, Adobe has seen significant growth, with revenue increasing from $3.16 billion in 2007 to $23.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Narayen's legacy is marked by his shift to a subscription-based model, which has become a key driver of the company's success. Adobe Creative Cloud now has over 41 million paid subscribers, with a total of 850 million monthly active users across its platforms.
The company has also made significant strides in artificial intelligence, with its Firefly model at the core of its experiences. However, a high-profile bid to acquire Figma was scrapped in 2023 due to regulatory concerns.
As the search for a new CEO begins, names such as David Wadhwani, Dan Durn, and Anil Chakravarthy are being touted as potential frontrunners.
