NEW YORK (Reuters) - Computer document company Adobe Systems Inc. said Monday it agreed to buy multimedia software firm Macromedia Inc. for about $3.4 billion in stock, in a move designed to extend its lead in the market for creating and distributing digital documents.
Adobe (Research), best known for its Acrobat Web document-sharing software, said the deal would help it meet rising customer demand for wider-ranging applications with audio and video options, which are compatible with hand-held devices.
Macromedia (Research) gives Adobe access to the dominant animated graphics software on the Internet, which is also aggressively expanding into mobile phones.
The deal, set to close in the autumn, would likely yield cost savings, said Adobe's Chief Executive Bruce Chizen, without giving further details.
Adobe said it was unable to provide any estimates on future earnings under generally accepted accounting principles due to uncertainty over restructuring costs related to the deal, but said it would be break-even to slightly accretive to earnings in the first 12 months on a non-GAAP basis.
Under the terms of the deal, Macromedia shareholders will get 0.69 shares of Adobe, worth $41.86 at Adobe's closing price of $60.66 on Friday on Nasdaq, for each Macromedia share. That is a 25 percent premium to Macromedia's closing price of $33.45 on Friday, also on Nasdaq.
Chizen will stay in his position as CEO, Adobe said, while Macromedia President and Chief Executive Stephen Elop will become president of worldwide field operations at the combined company.
