Overview
- Adobe announced Thursday that Anil Chakravarthy will become president and CEO and join the board on December 1, with long-time chief Shantanu Narayen moving to executive chair to manage the transition.
- The appointment followed a board-led search overseen by lead independent director Frank Calderoni, who said the committee unanimously selected Chakravarthy after a rigorous evaluation.
- Markets reacted negatively to the surprise choice, with shares sliding in extended trading and larger selloffs reported over the next session, and David Wadhwani, a leading internal contender, announced his departure after the reveal.
- Chakravarthy, who has led Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations since 2020 and previously ran Informatica, is credited with building AI-linked products such as Adobe CX Enterprise, GenStudio and Brand Visibility.
- The company and incoming CEO frame the change as a push to scale agentic AI across creativity, productivity and customer experience, but investors will watch upcoming earnings and regulatory impacts from the EU AI Act to see if Adobe can hold off lower-cost AI-native rivals.