Adobe Appoints Anil Chakravarthy as New CEO Amid AI Challenges
Adobe Inc. has announced the appointment of Anil Chakravarthy, the current head of its marketing and analytics software division, as its next chief executive officer. This transition comes as the company faces stiff competition from emerging players in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. Chakravarthy will officially take on his new role on December 1, 2023, while the longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen will move to the position of executive chair. Narayen has led Adobe since 2007.
Chakravarthy joined Adobe in January 2020. His promotion follows the announcement that David Wadhwani, who was overseeing Adobe’s creative business, will be leaving the company. Wadhwani and Chakravarthy were viewed as the top candidates for the CEO position.
Adobe is widely known for its industry-standard tools like Photoshop, which have been essential for creative and marketing professionals for years. However, recent advancements in generative AI have raised concerns on Wall Street about Adobe’s future. Many new AI tools developed by competitors allow users to create visual content without relying on Adobe’s traditional, often costly, products.
Chakravarthy’s selection may come as a surprise to some, as the division he managed is relatively smaller compared to Adobe’s flagship creative unit. Analyst Brent Thill from Jefferies remarked that many had anticipated Wadhwani, who oversees a significant portion of the company’s revenue, to be the logical choice for CEO.
Shortly after the announcement, Wadhwani shared on LinkedIn his decision to leave Adobe, stating it was a good time to explore new opportunities. Following the news of the leadership change, Adobe’s shares dropped by about 2% in after-hours trading, reflecting investor concerns about the company’s ability to cope with disruptions caused by AI technologies. Since the beginning of 2024, Adobe’s stock has seen a dramatic decline of 52%.
Shantanu Narayen expressed confidence in Chakravarthy’s ability to lead, praising him as a transformative leader with a strong understanding of Adobe’s business. Chakravarthy’s marketing and analytics division generated $5.86 billion in revenue in 2025, which amounts to about a quarter of Adobe’s total earnings. Analysts expect his primary challenge will be to address the declining sales growth and tackle the perception that Adobe might be at risk due to the rise of free AI tools.
Before joining Adobe, Chakravarthy served as CEO of Informatica Inc., a data integration company that is now part of Salesforce Inc. In his statement, he expressed his enthusiasm for catalyzing growth and maintaining Adobe’s strong presence in the evolving landscape of software for creativity and productivity.
Narayen has been instrumental in leading Adobe through a significant phase of growth, including a successful shift to a subscription-based business model. The search for his successor began in March, and analysts had speculated that an external candidate could take the helm, given today’s competitive landscape.
Despite the unexpected leadership change, analyst Jackson Ader from KeyBanc believes that having someone with prior CEO experience reduces the risk of major disruptions at Adobe.
