SAN JOSE – Adobe Inc. said on Wednesday it has agreed to acquire search engine marketing platform Semrush Holdings Inc. for $1.9 billion in cash, a move aimed at bolstering its marketing tools for clients navigating the artificial intelligence era.
The design and marketing software giant will pay $12 per share for Semrush, sending the target company’s stock soaring more than 70% in afternoon trading. Adobe’s own shares dipped about 2%.
The acquisition, expected to close in the first half of 2026, will integrate Semrush’s search engine optimization and online visibility tools into Adobe’s suite of digital experience products. Semrush, which went public in 2021 and counts Amazon.com Inc and TikTok among its major customers, closed at $6.76 on Tuesday.
In a statement, Anil Chakravarthy, president of Adobe’s digital experience business, said the deal is a direct response to the shifts caused by generative AI.
“Brand visibility is being reshaped by generative AI, and brands that don’t embrace this new opportunity risk losing relevance and revenue,” Chakravarthy said.
Adobe, best known for its Photoshop and Acrobat software, has been aggressively embedding AI across its product lineup to capitalize on the technology trend. This includes recently launching an AI assistant for its Reader and Acrobat applications.
The Semrush deal comes as Adobe seeks to reignite investor confidence. Its stock has lost more than a quarter of its value this year, underperforming the broader market and reflecting a sector-wide selloff in software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms. Investors have been concerned that legacy SaaS companies may be losing ground to new, AI-native competitors.
This acquisition marks Adobe’s second major attempt to expand through a large deal after its $20 billion bid for collaborative design software firm Figma collapsed in December 2023 due to regulatory opposition. Figma subsequently went public in July of this year.