Lina Khan points to Figma IPO as vindication for M&A scrutiny
In a Friday afternoon post on X, Khan linked to an article about Figma's impressive first day of trading and argued the IPO is 'a great reminder that letting startups grow into independently successful businesses, rather than be bought up by existing giants, can generate enormous value.'
Khan was alluding to a $20 billion deal for Adobe to acquire Figma that fell through back in 2023. While Adobe cited the lack of a 'clear path' to approval from the European Commission and the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, the acquisition also faced regulatory scrutiny in the United States over concerns that it could prevent Figma from being an 'effective competitor' to Adobe.
Khan was FTC chair at the time, leading the agency to challenge Big Tech on fronts including startup acquisitions — to the point that companies tried to avoid this scrutiny with 'reverse acqui-hires' in which they hired key team members and licensed technology rather than acquiring startups outright. (The practice seems to be continuing despite Khan's departure from the FTC.)
While her aggressive stance led to intense criticism from corners of the tech industry, she defended her approach by saying that only a tiny percentage of deals received 'a second look' and arguing that founders would ultimately benefit from 'a world in which you have six or seven or eight potential suitors' rather than 'just one or two.'
And although Khan — who'd been appointed by President Joe Biden — resigned at the start of the second Trump administration, her comments Friday paint the Figma IPO as a vindication for her approach, calling the IPO 'a win for employees, investors, innovation, and the public.'
Of course, Khan's critics are more likely to see Figma's success as coming despite regulatory scrutiny, not because of it. For example, Wedbush Security analyst Dan Ives told Business Insider, 'Figma is a massive success, but it's because of the company's innovative growth and not due to the FTC and Kahn.'
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