Adobe Shares Fall as Software Maker Cuts 750 Jobs

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) shares fell in extended trading after the company said it will cut 750 jobs as it lessens its focus on older products and shifts investment to programs for digital publishing and Web advertising.

The job cuts, mostly in North America and Europe, will cost $87 million to $94 million before taxes, the company said in a statement yesterday. That includes $73 million to $78 million of charges in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ends Dec. 2. After the costs, net income will be 30 cents to 38 cents a share, compared with a previous forecast of 41 cents to 50 cents.

Adobe, the largest maker of graphic-design software, is facing competition from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and an industry shift away from its Flash technology for Internet programming. To cope with the changes, the San Jose, California- based company is adapting its products for the increasingly popular HTML5 programming language and software for cloud computing, which is delivered over the Internet.

The company said it is channeling research, sales and marketing investments into digital media and marketing in its next fiscal year, and expects less licensing revenue from software for corporate servers. As a result, Adobe said sales will increase 4 percent to 6 percent next year. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected sales to increase 9 percent to $4.53 billion next year. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-08/adobe-systems-to-eliminate-750-jobs-focus-on-digital-media.html