Adobe’s CFO says the tech company has ‘3 unicorn businesses’

Dan Durn, CFO and EVP of finance, technology services and operations at Adobe since October, has decades of experience in the tech industry. But the veteran was “grounded in the fundamental principles of leadership and organization design” in the military, he told me. Durn is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his MBA in finance from Columbia Business School. He served in the Navy for six years, reaching the rank of lieutenant. Durn shared a poignant leadership experience while serving.

Courtesy of Adobe

“I had a commanding officer who saw something in me and took a risk,” Durn explains. “The ship wasn’t doing well in a certain area. We had an inspection coming up, and he just wasn’t getting what he needed out of the current organization.” The two had a conversation. “He said, ‘Dan, I want you to take this on,’” Durn says. “I had a lot of uncertainty and doubt in my mind whether or not I was the right person for it.” But his commanding officer said, “Trust me,” Durn recalls.

“That experience gave me an incredible amount of confidence to deal with high levels of complexity, sort through them, and get to underlying issues,” he says. “If he hadn’t believed in me or made that opportunity available to me, I tend to think my career would have been on a different path and trajectory.”

Durn joined Adobe from Applied Materials where he also served as CFO. Prior to that, he was the CFO at NXP Semiconductors. Adobe is continuing to make a shift from building applications to providing new business models, apps, and services. And Durn says there’s ample business opportunity with Adobe’s Creative Cloud (software for design), Experience Cloud (the interface between a company and its customers on the digital channel), and Document Cloud (PDFs, digital documents).

They are “three unicorn businesses,” he says. “And we’ve got a greater than $200 billion TAM [Total Addressable Market] in front of us in the coming years.”

In its fourth-quarter fiscal year 2021, Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) reported that creative revenue grew to $2.48 billion, 19% growth from the same time last year. Document cloud revenue was $532 million, 29% year-over-year growth. And digital experience segment revenue was $1.01 billion, representing 23% year-over-year growth. For the fiscal year 2021, the company achieved record-annual revenue of $15.79 billion, which represents 23% year-over-year growth. Adobe is expected to report its first-quarter fiscal year 2022 earnings on March 22.

Though the stock was recently as high as $699 in November, it has been caught in the tech downdraft of late, closing at $463 on Thursday. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives sent a note to clients on Thursday naming Adobe as one of the top tech stocks to “own on this [market] sell-off.” Ives also named Microsoft, Apple, and Oracle.

As Adobe is a digital content company, it’s prepared for the “digitization of the global economy,” Durn says. “I think every company on the planet will fundamentally become a technology company. And every company is going to have a digital channel in which to engage customers. I think it’s going to be as powerful as the Industrial Revolution. And I think it’s the next macro secular trend that shapes the global economy for the next decade or two.”

I asked Durn, also an alum of Goldman Sachs, if the metaverse will be part of what he described. (Wall Street thinks the metaverse will be worth trillions). “I think the metaverse is an additional factor of growth on top of that opportunity. And as that plays out, I get really excited as a key catalyst of increasing growth opportunities for us.”

He continues, “I can’t define with specificity how it is going to play out, much like people probably couldn’t talk with specificity how the Internet was going to play out in the mid-‘90s. But the internet evolved to a very powerful engine of economic growth globally. The metaverse is in the same category, and it’s going to have entertainment, gaming, digital commerce, and business applications.”

Durn characterizes Adobe as a “special place with great talent, a strong culture with a strong business opportunity in front of us,” he says. In Navy parlance, you could say his outlook boils down to—Full speed ahead.

Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

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Big deal

The Future of Work in Financial Services: Remote or In-Office?, a report by Vidyard, a video platform for businesses, and Atomik Research, is based on a survey of 500 financial professionals in North America. Regarding change in business culture 57% of respondents working remotely says it makes them feel more confident compared to working in the office. And 54% said working from home makes them feel more independent. However, 31% of respondents reported feeling more micromanaged working from home compared to working in the office.

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Leaderboard

Here are notable moves:

Rod Bolger was named CFO at Celsius, a global cryptocurrency lending and borrowing platform. Most recently, Bolger served as CFO at RBC, Canada’s largest bank. He brings over three decades experience from companies including Bank of America, Citigroup, and PwC. With extensive experience in M&A and IPO transactions, Bolger will work on the further expansion of Celsius.

Lorraine Burgess was named CFO at BBC Studios, Variety reported. Producer-distributor BBC Studios is U.K. Broadcaster BBC’s largest commercial subsidiary. Burgess has served as interim CFO since July 2021. Prior to joining BBC Studios, she was managing director of Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures. Burgess previously led digital operations at Endemol Shine Group. She had several roles at Ingenious Media and Universal Pictures.

Andy Kitzmiller was named EVP and CFO at Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO). Kitzmiller joins Meridian from Hillenbrand, Inc., where he was VP, chief accounting officer, and corporate controller. Prior to Hillenbrand, Kitzmiller was the VP of finance and corporate controller of Milacron, spent five years in various global finance roles at GE Aviation, and spent 10 years in the audit practice of Deloitte & Touche.

Steve Laxton was promoted to CFO at Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE). Jim Frias, current CFO, treasurer and EVP, plans to retire, effective June 11, and will transition out of the role as of March 6. Laxton is currently VP of business development and strategic planning. He began his career with Nucor in 2003 as general manager of business development. Prior to joining Nucor, Laxton worked for Cinergy Corp., holding various positions including director of asset management. Prior to Cinergy, he held various financial roles with Ashland, Inc., North American Stainless and National City Bank.

Thierry Piéton was named CFO at Renault Group, effective March 1. Piéton has served as deputy CFO, SVP, and controller since February 2020. He previously served as SVP and CFO at Nissan Europe. Piéton joined General Electric (GE) in 1998 and held various finance positions in the health care division. In 2004, he became CFO for Europe, Middle East and Africa for GE Security. He then took on the role of global financial planning and analysis manager with GE Consumer & Industrial. In 2007, Piéton became CFO for GE Oil & Gas Global Services. In 2011, he became CFO for GE Power Conversion. Piéton started his career as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1995.

Joe Scott was named CFO at Veristat, a global clinical research organization. Scott brings more than 20 years of experience. He joins Veristat from CRO Advanced Group where he served as CFO. Prior to that, Scott was at Parexel, most recently serving as SVP of strategic finance.

Overheard

"Anything besides Yelp. I mean, when you have restaurants that haven’t opened yet getting reviewed, you know something is wrong."

—Tom Colicchio, a well-known chef who also co-hosts the popular cooking challenge show Top Chef, on why he's investing in the software startup Tattle to give restaurants an app alternative, as reported by Coins2Day.