Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) are trading 2.97% lower in the Friday pre-market session following a late-Thursday announcement regarding a change in the company's executive leadership.
Anil Chakravarthy, the former president of Adobe’s customer experience orchestration and worldwide field operations, will take over as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 1. Chakravarthy joined Adobe nearly seven years ago after previously serving as the CEO of enterprise data management firm Informatica, which was acquired by Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) in November.
Shantanu Narayen, who has led Adobe as CEO for 18 years, will transition to the role of executive chair. In a statement, Narayen described Chakravarthy as an experienced transformational leader who brings strong values, integrity, and deep knowledge of the business. Narayen announced his decision to step down earlier this year.
Additionally, David Wadhwani, a top executive at Adobe, announced his decision to leave the company. Wadhwani served as the president of Adobe’s creativity and productivity business for almost five years. In a LinkedIn post, he expressed confidence in Chakravarthy’s leadership for Adobe’s future.
The leadership transition occurs as Adobe navigates a turbulent period in the creative software industry. The company faces intensifying competition from rivals such as Canva and Figma Inc. (NYSE: FIG), as well as new market entrants like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), which recently launched Google Pics, an AI-powered image creation and editing tool.
Adobe is scheduled to report its third quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on Thursday, September 10. The company reported strong second-quarter revenue of $6.62 billion, which beat analyst estimates earlier this year. As of the latest market data, ADBE stock is down over 18% year-to-date and closed at $285.75 on Thursday.
