[HN Gopher] After Figma's $20B windfall evaporated, it's picking...
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After Figma's $20B windfall evaporated, it's picking up the pieces
Author : mooreds
Score : 19 points
Date : 2024-02-08 19:39 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| chrisjj wrote:
| https://archive.ph/2l0uK
| sagz wrote:
| tl;dr: The article reports on Figma's challenges after a $20
| billion deal with Adobe fell through due to regulatory scrutiny.
| Figma had to halve its internal valuation to $10 billion,
| affecting employee morale and leading to severance offers for
| those wishing to leave. The situation illustrates broader
| regulatory impacts on tech industry mergers, with similar actions
| affecting other companies and reshaping expectations around
| acquisitions and employee compensation.
| itake wrote:
| This is the story of most SPAC startups in the last 3 years.
| COGlory wrote:
| >Figma's employees, called Figmates
|
| This may take the cake as the worst one yet. I suppose they
| _could_ have gone with Figments.
| bombcar wrote:
| Figments would at least be amusing in a self-deprecating sort
| of way.
| hanniabu wrote:
| Or just Figs
| itake wrote:
| I work from Grab. We are "Grabbers"...
|
| Our annual sexual harassment train goes like this:
|
| "Hi Grabbers, Please remember not to grab"
| jpgvm wrote:
| ngl. that is a pretty good line.
|
| I'm a big Grab user as a resident of Thailand so I've always
| thought about Grab/Line or Gojek but the compensation has
| never lined up with what I can get elsewhere.
|
| How is working at Grab and are you based in SEA or elsewhere?
|
| Disclaimer: former Uber/Postmates employee
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| Fig'mewtons
| Invictus0 wrote:
| FigmaBalls
| Invictus0 wrote:
| Figmartians
| Comma2976 wrote:
| Figgots.
| Invictus0 wrote:
| Figmaggots
| layer8 wrote:
| Figmalions
| dang wrote:
| I agree those corporate constructs are awful, but things like
| this are why HN has this guideline:
|
| " _Please don 't pick the most provocative thing in an article
| or post to complain about in the thread. Find something
| interesting to respond to instead._"
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
| vert1020 wrote:
| Misleading title. They got $1B in breakup fee from Adobe, they
| will be fine.
| thebradbain wrote:
| Yes, this sucks for employees in the short term who thought their
| equity was potentially worth 2x what it is (and more importantly,
| liquid!). But also, if their numbers are good enough to plausibly
| command that price, it's probably better for everyone, employees
| included in the long run, to go public? And not via SPAC, but via
| a real IPO.
|
| Looking back, I think this ZIRP phenomenon of PE and VC was
| unhealthy (remember crypto??), unrealistic, and ultimately only
| benefitted a few founders, some employees, and mostly VC firms
| making paper gains by marking up SoftBank-esque valuations that
| no one actually believed.
|
| We're forgetting that all of FAANG IPOd when they too were much
| less than $20 billion. Maybe it's time for the next generation of
| software companies to take control of their own destiny rather
| than wait for a golden parachute to buy them out.
| _benj wrote:
| If I put myself in the position of an employee, yeah, that the
| deal didn't went through does sucks, but at the same time, am I
| supposed to feel sorry for Adobe and their world domination goals
| being thwarted by regulatory agencies? it seems to me that if big
| tech had their way, they would follow the old MS path of buy and
| kill and just be the sole providers of whatever product they are
| selling.
|
| Monopoly is good for business but it sucks for customers!
| DHPersonal wrote:
| I feel bad that the employees didn't get to go from a cool
| startup to a huge payday, but they still get to work at the cool
| startup and us customers don't have to deal with Adobe's awful
| behavior in our UI design program.
| benatkin wrote:
| The merger with Adobe may be gone, but the rent-seeking is still
| there. The plans are generous - if you work all by yourself. If
| you get hooked on it and want to work with one other person, it
| jumps to $24/mo ($480/yr) for the two of you if you need more
| than 3 boards.
| solardev wrote:
| That's like, what, half an hour's wages per person per month?
| Doesn't seem unfair.
| durumu wrote:
| I don't really think that qualifies as rent-seeking... it's
| just that they have a good product that is expensive. You are
| free to use a product that is cheaper and worse.
| preommr wrote:
| I have a very strong feeling that it's more likely Figma is going
| to be the next sketch than it'll be the next adobe.
| xnx wrote:
| It's a bit of a crazy point we're at that a tool for mocking up
| digital interfaces would be so valuable. Creating blueprints for
| buildings is useful because construction is slow and expensive.
| It embarrassing that we can't make a mockup interface in our GUI
| editors as fast as we can make them in a separate tool.
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