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Adobe acquires Behance, sets sights on community-driven Creative Cloud

Well, it looks like Adobe is wrapping things up nicely before the long holiday weekend. Mere days after the most recent round of updates, the software outfit has just announced its acquisition of Behance, the online portfolio community for creatives in a number of disciplines. Founded in 2006 by CEO Scott Belsky, they NYC-based outfit will remain it's current location and retain all of its 32 current employees. Touting over 1 million active users and 90 million project views in the past month, Behance is an online repository for portfolios, feedback, inspiration and the hiring of creative pros. Adobe is planning to fully integrate the design community's wares into it's Creative Cloud arsenal "allowing members to seamlessly create content, seek feedback, showcase their work and distribute it across devices." For now, there won't be any changes for free and paid members of the Behance offerings, but Adobe is evaluating how to integrate the paid portions into Creative Cloud memberships with the free option from the community remaining as such. Head on past the break to take a gander at the full announcement.

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Adobe Acquires Behance to Drive New Community Capabilities in Creative Cloud

Acquisition Enables Millions of Creative Cloud and Behance Members to Create, Share, Showcase and Publish Their Work

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 20, 2012 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it has acquired privately held Behance, a leading online social media platform that enables creatives to showcase and share their work. With over 1 million members, the acquisition of Behance accelerates Adobe's strategy to bring great community features to Creative Cloud, making it the ultimate hub for creatives worldwide. Adobe Creative Cloud is an industry-defining shift in creative expression and inspiration, where members can access Adobe's world-class creative tools and services and create, publish and share their work across devices, the desktop and the Web.

"When we launched Creative Cloud earlier this year, we committed that we would give members new value on an ongoing basis. Last week, we launched new training features, file synchronization and sharing capabilities, digital publishing services and significant updates to a number of our tools, including Photoshop," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager at Adobe. "Behance will play a key role in Adobe's efforts to serve the creative world in the years to come and will accelerate our efforts to enable a more open and collaborative creative community."

In the last 30 days, portfolios on Behance-powered sites have received over 90 million views and today there are over 3 million projects hosted on the Behance platform.

"We set out to connect the creative world and maximize the exposure that creatives receive for their work," said Scott Belsky, cofounder and CEO of Behance. "As creatives rely more on the social web for collaboration and opportunity, creative people and teams will benefit from Behance's community features integrated into the creative process. We're thrilled to join Adobe and empower creative careers on a global scale."

For further details on today's announcement visit Behance's blog at: http://blog.behance.net/teamblog/behance-adobe-serving-the-future-of-the-creative-world.

As well as providing a showcase for creative work across industries and disciplines, Behance also powers the portfolio display for thousands of other websites around the Web, including AdWeek, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and The Smithsonian National Design Awards. As Behance has grown, it has evolved into more than a destination that creatives use to forge connections. Behance has now become a place where creative professionals also find work and market their unique skills. Adobe plans to integrate Behance's community and portfolio capabilities with Adobe Creative Cloud, allowing members to seamlessly create content, seek feedback, showcase their work and distribute it across devices.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure
This press release includes forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including risks and uncertainties related to Adobe's ability to successfully integrate the Behance community and capabilities into Creative Cloud. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including statements regarding: the ability of Adobe to retain Behance's online community and user base, to expand the Behance community globally, to deliver tools and services required by the creative community, and other anticipated benefits of the transaction to Adobe; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. These risks, uncertainties and other factors, and the general risks associated with Adobe's business, could cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adobe and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Adobe's SEC filings. Adobe does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or other statements included in this press release.