How will US regulators respond to Big Tech’s latest threat to competition?

Adobe’s announced intention to buy the collaborative web interface design tool Figma for a record $20 billion, highlights how seriously the US regulatory authorities’ intend to tackle monopoly practices in the technology industry.

The acquisition, half in cash and half in shares, is one of the most important in the technology sector after Facebook bought WhatsApp in February 2014 (originally for $19 billion but that ended up closing at $21.8), Salesforce’s buyout of Slack in December 2020 or IBM’s purchase of Red Hat in October 2018; and doubles the company’s value from the time of its last round of financing, which is an impressive multiplier of about 50 times its annual turnover. The markets have responded negatively to the deal with a sharp drop in Adobe’s share price, but some analysts say it makes sense in the context of the company’s commitment to collaborative design on the cloud, safekeeping the strongest competitor of one of its tools, Adobe XD.

What’s the point of acquiring your main competitor? Basically, to secure control of a market, precisely what the Biden administration, with Lina Khan at the helm, was supposed prevent. Lax legislation in this regard have seen the creation of behemoths no one can contemplate competing, and who dedicate themselves, instead of innovating, to…