Dive Brief:
- Shantanu Narayen, who plans to step down after more than 18 years as CEO of Adobe, praised the company’s potential to drive enterprise AI initiatives during his 100th — and one of his final — earnings calls with the software giant Thursday.
- “Adobe has always been a trusted partner for enterprises, and we’re increasingly being asked to help them drive their AI strategy across customer experience orchestration globally,” said Narayen. He will stay on as CEO until the company appoints a successor and then plans to stay on as chair of the board to provide support.
- The company said its AI-fueled customer experience offering for enterprise users, Adobe Experience Platform, saw 30% year-over-year growth during the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year. Adobe drew $6.4 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 12% year over year.
Dive Insight:
The vendor race to attract enterprise AI spending continues to heat up.
Adobe, a stalwart provider of productivity software for creatives, has refocused its strategy on enterprise customers in recent years, bundling enterprise-grade tools within its Experience Platform product, adding AI capabilities and acquiring companies such as work management platform Workfront to bring in new tools.
The effort has helped buoy enterprise sales, executives said Thursday.
“AI remains a tailwind for our enterprise business, enabling us to deliver creative and marketing professionals subscription revenue of $4.39 billion in Q1, growing 11% year-over-year,” said Anil Chakravarthy, president of Adobe’s customer experience orchestration business, during the call.
In Q4 2025, executives also credited AI for a boost in sales, as AI-influenced new annual recurring revenue surpassed one-third of its total book of business.
But as the company continues to pivot, it’s experiencing significant leadership changes. In addition to Narayen’s retirement, CIO Cynthia Stoddard departed the company in August after nine years. She was replaced by Lucius DiPhillips in January, a former Airbnb executive who is leading Adobe’s global technology services team with an eye toward digital transformation.
DiPhillips reports to Daniel Durn, CFO and EVP of finance, technology, security and operations at Adobe, who praised the executive’s know-how as the company worked to “scale and innovate in the era of AI,” Durn said in the announcement.
Tech vendors are seeking their slice of the projected $2.5 trillion in global AI spend, with Adobe billing itself as an integrated enterprise player.
“Adobe consistently demonstrates agility and innovation, most recently via investments in embedded GenAI across its product portfolio,” Gartner said in an October 2025 research note. But customers often run across issues with the company’s pricing policies and contract renewal process, researchers said.
