Adobe China closes: Another foreign company dies due to "unsuitable environment"

On September 24, Adobe released an official statement saying that Adobe will focus on market expansion in China in the future, so it has decided to cancel and close its R&D branch in China. The R&D branch will cease operations at the end of December. Adobe will retain sales operations in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

An Adobe China employee revealed that the main reason for Adobe to close Adobe China this time was that Adobe China's performance was too poor. In fact, Adobe's performance around the world is very unsatisfactory. On September 17, Adobe released its third quarter financial report for the 2014 fiscal year ending August 29. Revenue was US$1.01 billion, a slight increase of 1% year-on-year, which was lower than expected. Net profit was US$44.7 million, a sharp drop of 46% from US$83 million in the same period last year.

As early as two years ago, Adobe closed Adobe Taiwan. At that time, Huang Yaohui, Managing Director of Adobe Greater China, issued a statement on the Adobe Taiwan website saying: "After careful and detailed consideration of the business strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, Adobe has made the decision to reorganize the Greater China business. According to the reorganization plan, we will close the Taiwan branch, effective December 7, 2012."

Also two years ago, Kevin Cochrane, global vice president of Adobe, said in an interview with Chinese media: "For Adobe, investing heavily in the Chinese market has always been our choice."

It can be seen that Adobe has identified Adobe China as the core of Adobe in Greater China two years ago. Adobe's decision to close Adobe China also means that Adobe has abandoned its strategy in Greater China.

The question is, what did Adobe give up in Greater China?

Adobe's most famous business is its multimedia tool software, including the well-known Adobe Photoshop and Flash. However, the main research and development work of these multimedia tool software is not in China, as can be seen from the fact that many Adobe multimedia tool software still do not have Chinese versions.

Another of Adobe's businesses is digital marketing tools, which is the core business that Adobe has established for Adobe China.

From this, we can see that Adobe's closure of Adobe China is mainly due to the abandonment of Adobe's digital marketing tool business in Greater China, and the reason for retaining Adobe China's sales department is mainly to ensure Adobe's multimedia tool software business in Greater China.

In fact, Adobe's digital marketing tools' main competitor in Greater China is Baidu's digital marketing tools. Compared with Baidu's digital marketing tools, Adobe's digital marketing tools are not only more expensive, but also not significantly better in actual effect. Therefore, Adobe China's performance may be so poor that it is not enough to support Adobe China's operations.

The closure of Adobe China is just another example of foreign technology companies collectively failing to adapt to the Chinese environment.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.