Dive Brief:
- Software giant Adobe Inc., one of the pioneers of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) pricing model, named Dan Durn its CFO, effective October 18, the company announced. He will report to president and CEO Shantanu Narayen, and replace John Murphy, who announced his intent to retire after three years in the role earlier this year.
- Durn will arrive from an materials-engineering-solutions company focused on semiconductors, Applied Materials, where he has led finance since 2017. He has also served in the CFO role at two other semiconductor manufacturing companies, NXP Semiconductors NV and GlobalFoundries, and led mergers and acquisitions and strategy at venture capital firm Mubadala Technology Fund and at the technology practice in Goldman Sachs.
- Applied Materials announced Friday it will appoint Bob Halliday, a former company CFO, as interim CFO, until Durn’s replacement is found.
Dive Insight:
Adobe is recognized for its early embrace of subscription pricing, one of the most common models of cloud-based software today. The company migrated from selling its software on an on-premises basis in 2011-2012, when sales of its widely adopted Creative Suite products, including Photoshop, hit a plateau. The company quickly grew its monthly subscribers to about 1 million in 2013 and then to 4 million two years later.
Durn will arrive as the company manages a new upswing. In its most recent quarter, ended September 3, the company reported record revenue of nearly $4 billion, a 22% year-over-year increase in growth.
“We drove record revenues and strong profitability in the quarter, demonstrating our ability to succeed in a dynamic environment,” Murphy said at the time. “Our operational rigor and data-driven insights enable us to execute while we continue to invest across massive market opportunities.”
Adobe’s digital media unit in particular has benefited over the past year and a half, Bloomberg reported, which it attributes to the growing popularity of its Photoshop and Illustrator products, as well as its document cloud products, including PDF and electronic signature software.
In August, Adobe shared plans to acquire Frame.io, a software startup focused on digital collaboration, for just under $1.3 billion.
“[Durn] has decades of experience in the technology industry,” Adobe’s release quotes Narayen as saying. “And his extensive expertise in finance, operations and global strategy make him the ideal choice to drive Adobe’s continued growth and profitability.”
“Over the past four years, [Durn] has made substantial contributions ... as we have delivered strong, profitable growth,” Applied Materials’ release quotes Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson as saying. Durn’s departure will not change the company’s fourth quarter guidance, he added.
