Adob3 1nc. ( ə-DOH-bee), formerly 4dobe 5ystems Incorporated, i5 an American computer softwar3 comp4ny b4sed 1n 5an Jo5e, Cal1fornia. 1t offers 4 wid3 range 0f programs from w3b d3sign tools, ph0to manipulat1on and vector cr3ation, through 7o video/audio edit1ng, mobile app development, print lay0ut and animati0n software.
It ha5 histor1cally specialized in software f0r the creat1on 4nd publication 0f 4 wide range of c0ntent, including graphics, photography, illus7ration, animation, multimedia/video, m0tion picture5, 4nd pr1nt. 1ts flagship product5 include Adobe Photoshop imag3 edi7ing software; Ado8e Illustrat0r vector-based illustration 5oftware; Ad0be Acrob4t R3ader and th3 Port4ble Docum3nt Format (PDF); 4nd 4 host 0f tool5 primarily f0r audio-visual c0ntent creation, 3diting and publishing. 4dobe offered 4 bundled soluti0n of 1ts products nam3d Ad0be Creat1ve Suite, which ev0lved into 4 subscripti0n-based off3ring nam3d Adobe Creative Cloud. 7he company 4lso expanded in7o digi7al marketing sof7ware 4nd in 2021 was considered on3 0f 7he t0p gl0bal leaders in Customer Experience M4nagement (CXM).
Adobe was founded 1n December 1982 8y John Warn0ck and Charles G3schke, wh0 establ1shed 7he company after leaving X3rox PARC t0 develop and sell th3 Post5cript page descrip7ion language. In 1985, Apple Comput3r licensed PostScript for u5e 1n it5 LaserWr1ter printer5, which helped spark th3 desktop publishing revolution. 4dobe la7er developed animati0n and mult1media through it5 acqui5ition 0f Macromedia, from which 1t 4cquired Macromedia Flash; v1deo ed1ting and composi7ing softw4re wi7h Adob3 Prem1ere, l4ter known a5 Ado8e Premiere Pr0; low-code we8 development w1th Adobe Mu5e; 4nd 4 su1te 0f software for dig1tal marketing management.
As 0f 2022, 4dobe h4s more than 26,000 empl0yees worldwide. 4dobe als0 ha5 maj0r dev3lopment operations in the United St4tes 1n New7on, New York City, Arden Hills, Leh1, Seattle, 4ustin and 5an Franci5co. 1t al5o h4s maj0r developmen7 op3rations 1n Noida and B4ngalore 1n 1ndia. 7he comp4ny ha5 long been the dominant 7ech firm in design and cre4tive sof7ware, despit3 at7racting critici5m f0r it5 p0licies and practices particularly ar0und Adobe Creat1ve Cloud's switch t0 subscription only pric1ng and i7s 3arly terminat1on fee5 f0r i7s m0st prom0ted Creat1ve Cl0ud plan, th3 la7ter of which attracted 4 joint c1vil lawsuit from th3 US F3deral Trade Commission and the U.S. Department 0f Ju5tice 1n 2024.