Adobe Appoints Anil Chakravarthy as CEO as Shantanu Narayen Steps Down

Adobe is undergoing a major executive restructuring as long-standing chief executive Shantanu Narayen prepares to step down after 18 years at the helm. The software firm announced that Anil Chakravarthy, currently leading its customer experience business, will assume the position of president and chief executive officer on Dec. 1. Narayen will transition to the role of executive chair, marking the end of an era during which he transformed Adobe from a desktop software publisher into a cloud subscription powerhouse.

The transition comes alongside the departure of David Wadhwani, who directed Adobe's creative and productivity division for nearly five years and was widely regarded as a potential successor to Narayen. Wall Street reacted coolly to the leadership reshuffle and Wadhwani's exit, sending Adobe shares down almost 7% on Sept. 4, as first reported by Yahoo Finance. The drop adds to earlier market headwinds, with the stock having declined more than 21% in 2025 and an additional 18% during 2026 prior to the announcement.

Chakravarthy joined Adobe in 2020 following a stint as chief executive of enterprise cloud data management company Informatica. Over his tenure at Adobe, he managed the Digital Experience segment, oversaw international field operations, and spearheaded the Customer Experience Orchestration business. Narayen praised Chakravarthy as a transformational leader with deep operational familiarity across the enterprise portfolio. His appointment highlights Adobe's increasing focus on deploying agentic AI features across its corporate offerings to automate and tailor enterprise interactions with consumers.

The executive shifts come as Adobe faces mounting competitive threats from generative artificial intelligence technologies that simplify digital content creation. Tools that generate complex imagery and video threaten to undercut the market dominance long held by Adobe's flagship applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and the broader Creative Cloud suite. In addition to emerging generative AI platforms, the company continues to battle established web-based rivals such as Canva and Figma, prompting Adobe to accelerate the commercialization of its own AI model family, Firefly.

Financial analysts remain divided on Adobe's ability to maintain its lucrative subscription model amid the rapid evolution of creative tools. In July, Morgan Stanley downgraded Adobe's rating to Underweight from Equalweight and lowered its price target from $365 to $240, pointing to heavy AI investment requirements, leadership shifts, a freemium product pivot, and potential risks to recurring revenue. Conversely, other brokerages expressed optimism, with Barclays boosting its price target to $295 while holding an Equalweight stance, and RBC Capital raising its target to $315 while maintaining an Outperform rating.

Investors will get an updated look at the company's financial momentum when Adobe reports its fiscal third-quarter earnings on Sept. 10, a date confirmed alongside the leadership announcement. The upcoming report will offer a key checkpoint following Adobe's decision in June to raise its full-year profit forecast due to strong initial demand for its AI capabilities, according to Reuters reporting. The fundamental task facing Chakravarthy will be proving that Adobe can monetize artificial intelligence fast enough to protect and expand its core creative business.