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Adobe Acquisition Gets Nod

Bill Snyder

Shareholders of Adobe Systems(ADBE Quote) and Macromedia (MACR Quote) overwhelming approved the merger of their companies Wednesday.

The $3.4 billion deal stills needs regulatory approval. In July, the Department of Justice asked for more details of the combination, but the query is not seen as a major obstacle.

Adobe, best known for its Acrobat document sharing software, and Macromedia, best known for Flash animation software and Dreamweaver Web design program, have some overlap in their product lines; and it is possible that antitrust officials could make approval of the merger conditional on a divestiture.

In after-hours trading, Adobe's stock was off 4 cents to $27.99 a share after gaining nearly $1 during regular trading.

Of the 75% of outstanding Adobe shares voted, about 99% were cast in favor of the acquisition. Of the 73.2% of outstanding Macromedia shares voted, about 99.8% were cast in favor of the acquisition, according to the companies.

Shares of Macromedia closed the regular session up $1.50 to $38.37.